Isolate the Sunshine
by Ella Lola
Summary: Captured by her guardian, Amu is forced to go to Seiyo: A prestigious academy with rules that she breaks before she arrives. Left alone in the Music Department, Amu is furious, until she meets a boy with the same level of passion for music as she does.
1. Chapter 1

_ You can't keep running away  
It's gonna catch up someday  
Don't be this way, don't be this way  
No, you can't keep running away  
It's gonna catch up someday  
Don't be this way, don't be this way_

_Can't Keep Running Away, Eyeshine_

"Do you put sugar in your latte miss?" The slightly too friendly teen waiter asked me while leaning in a little too close for comfort. I shook my head while tapping my fingers on the counter and staring at the menu. I really wanted to stick out my finger, point to the Caesar Salad and order it _pronto _but now I couldn't. It would be a foolish move and I was no fool. I wanted to eat here and stay a while, I really did, but my plan hadn't gone my way.

The teen nodded to himself and tapped his foot to the subtle jazz music that was being played over the speakers. "You eatin' here, or do you want this latte to-go?" I looked at his nametag. His name was Joe Smith – how unoriginal. It was almost like the parents had said 'Oh what the hell, his last name is unoriginal enough so we might as well go all the way!'

"To go." I stated. I was desperately hoping that this ordeal would be over with soon. I originally planned to eat here and hang out with the clusters of musical people that hung out at this cafe, but I couldn't now. An emerald green Bentley had rolled up across the street, prompting all my senses to leave and escape. It was _him. _He had found me again. You would think getting a passport overseas to Australia of all places would derail his steadfast plans to find me and tell me something 'important'. But it didn't, and now I had to find another place to eat after ever so carefully planning to go to this particular location. I had my suspicions that the important thing was just a ruse for him to talk to me in close range, just to shoot me with a taser and ship me back home.

A woman shrieked at a table behind me. I turned my head and tilted my sunglasses down and saw an insect crawl out of her sugar pot and, to the utmost horror of the frail woman, into her Chai Tea. There was a reason why I didn't add sugar to my latte, and that just added to it. I made a mental note not to have sugar in my drinks when I visit any cafes in the future – I would hate to have a roach swimming around in my drink.

"Oh shit! 'Scuse the language miss, but I'll be right back." Joe jumped over the counter to help the lady calm down. I wonder if I could jump over a table like that. People began to watch in amusement and disgust as the woman began to have a panic attack while all the staff tried assist her and subtly remove the tea and replace it with a bug-free one. Ten points for the smart kid who thought that one up. Some people even began to film the scenario and joke about how many views they were going to get on YouTube. While they were distracted I grabbed my latte and left a ten dollar note on the cash register. I couldn't steal; it was against everything that I had ever been taught at home. But I couldn't think about home. I had to think about the present, not the past.

I pushed my sunglasses up my nose and combed through my jet black hair with my spare hand, before ducking through the kitchen, slipping past the chefs with cigarettes in between their teeth and slinking through the backdoor unnoticed. Surely he wouldn't notice my swift and timely escape. Surely this time I could escape again, just like last time and the time before that. I had to finally drive the signal through that I would never go back home. Not now, not ever. My two inch black heels clacked against the cobblestone alley as I ran down the alley and onto a busy street, filled with congested traffic. Perfect. Two minutes later I had jumped into a taxi empty of passengers.

I had a woman in her twenties with untamed fiery orange hair as my driver. It was unusual to have a female driver, and I felt special that I now had the experience of having one.

"Good afternoon, where would you like to go?" I checked her cab license, it was a hobby of mine; remembering the names of people that I had interacted with. Deborah Tanner spoke with a European accent, and reeked of the grape bubblegum that she was chewing with her mouth open, like a cow.

"Ma'am, where would you like to go? If you're not going anywhere, I'm sorry but I'll be forced to ask you to leave the vehicle." I looked up with a false shocked expression and bit my lip.

"I'm sorry; I was lost in my thoughts. Could you please take me to the nearest airport?"

Deborah nodded, gunned the engine and turned the radio on to full blast. The windows slightly rattled and I was forced to bounce in my seat to the heavy bass that pounded from the speakers under my seat. It would've been a fun experience, but my head was bumping onto the window every time I became slightly airborne. I shook my head – it didn't matter, because in approximately twenty four minutes Deborah Tanner pulled the cab up to the curb of the airport. The throbbing headache that had accumulated during the trip was worth it, just to see Deborah's face when I handed her a $100 dollar note for a $32.95 fare. Her gum dropped out of her mouth and stuck to her collar like a leech to human flesh. I flashed my best grin and hopped out, making my way to the international flights. I love tipping people ridiculously large amounts of money.

I walked up to the Service Counter to see a man with a receding hairline. The nametag stated that his name was Norman. I felt like saying a pun about how normal his name was, but I held back. Doing that would be a bad joke, possibly offending, unoriginal and would probably result in not getting a good ticket.

"How can I help you?" he drawled, without even looking up at me. How polite.

"I want to buy International Ticket to Barkarby Airport in Stockholm, Sweden as soon as possible. I would prefer to arrive in that particular airport, but any other in Sweden would also be fine. Could you please assist me with that? I'm not very good with computers." I lied about the computer part. I completely understood computers, and knew how to sabotage one with a few nasty algorithms too_. _It was just faster for him to do it and I like to be lazy when I can._  
_

Norman looked up to see my notepad and nodded. Unfortunately, he took interest in me and decided to make conversation.

"So, are you one of them people who can't use computers or are you just dumb?"

How inconsiderate. If I actually couldn't use a computer I think I would kill him for being so insensitive, and get away with it under justifiable homicide. But since I wasn't, I just shrugged it off. He nodded again and slowly tapped away at his computer with his two pointer fingers. What was so wrong with using all the fingers you have to type? It's so much faster than just two. By pure chance, I looked through the glass doors and to the curb where Deborah Tanner dropped me off.

But instead of seeing the cab belonging to Deborah Tanner, there was a too familiar emerald green Bentley belonging to the person who I despised the most.

He knew I was here.

He wasn't inside his car.

He was here, trying to find me.

I had to escape.

I told Norman that I needed to use the ladies room, ran out the glass doors and through the crowds.

He wasn't in his Bentley, so there was a big chance that he would be inside the airport waiting for me and not lurking outside. I had never escaped so directly and in such plain sight. Adrenaline rushed through my body, and my tongue tasted like copper. He had never found me this fast, not after thoroughly losing his trail. What had gone wrong? How did he find me this fast?

I slammed into a hard lumpy chest. I looked up to apologise, but froze up before I could. The scent of lilacs and fabric softener was so pungent and disgustingly familiar. I looked up to see him. The distinctive blonde hair, straight posture and expression that just screamed confidence and trust – it was him all right. The man I had run away from for three years. The person I had hated for such a long time.

"Amu, I almost didn't see you there." He wrapped his cold arm around my waist and guided me towards his car. "How about we talk in my marvellous Bentley? I had to give it a paint job since you scratched such misleading words into it during my trip to see you in Sweden, but I'm glad that I did. Green suits me so much better than orange, don't you think?"

My hand slipped into my pocket and grasped the key that would unlock my house in Japan. The second we were in arms reach of the Bentley, I scraped the key against the expensive paint job. Everyone around us stopped and stared as I finished my work. I had written kidnapper in bold letters and then began to struggle away from him. He tutted sadly and turned to the observers as a muscled man with wild orange hair turned away from his car and tried to help me.

"Help, HELP! I DONT KNOW THIS MAN! HELP ME!"

"I'm sorry everyone. Little Eve here still isn't happy that I'm her step father." he lied, without flinching in the slightest. "Come on Eve, Gran is waiting for us."

Liar, _Liar, LIAR! _I wanted to scream but I couldn't. He had spun me around towards his car and clamped his hand around my mouth. I squirmed, but the crowd had lost interest and began to swarm in different directions. I was pushed into the backseat, and the doors clicked firmly. He slipped into the front seat while I myself as comfortable as I could in my current kidnapped state.

Why wasn't I attacking him? There was a glass divider in between the front seats and the back seats.

"I'm offended. The doors are child proof." I growled. He nodded and changed the subject.

"Do you like my glass wall? I had this marvellous man called Eustace install it in Crewe. That's in England, by the way dearest. But of course you know that – we played cat and mouse there for a bit, didn't we?" he chuckled vainly to himself for a moment before gunning the engine and shooting towards the airport exit. "You sure made it exciting too. I even made the liberty to make sure the wall was missile proof instead of just bulletproof."

"Tsukasa shut the hell up. I'm tempted to jump through the possibly missile proof windows, even though you would race after me like the annoyance you are. Back in Japan, I had the crazy delusion that you were my friend. You helped me and stood up against my father for me. Three weeks later, you're running after me after helping me get away!"

He looked slightly hurt, but I didn't care. Everything would be perfect if he hadn't interfered. After a few minutes of silence he spoke up. "Amu, I hunted you down as a sign of friendship – and take off those hair extensions, you look so uncomfortably different. Like an office lady, almost."

I sighed and began to pull out the bobby pins that held the wig up. There were seventy two in total, and I decided to pull them out slowly just to spite him. They annoyed me, but if it made him uncomfortable it was worth it. "Actually, it's a wig and you're an idiot. Friends don't hunt down other friends on behalf of their cruel father!"

Tsukasa pulled the car over and looked at me. I instantly knew something was wrong, apart from the whole lifestyle I had been living. Instead of the constant chipper smile and positive body language that seemed so natural for Tsukasa, he was expressionless.

"The sparkles that seem to radiate off you at all times have ceased. What's wrong personal stalker?" Tsukasa slammed on the brakes. I launched sidewards into the glass wall with a sickening crack and rolled onto the car floor. I didn't dare move. Not when I heard the crack that definitely came from my left side.

"Ugghhh..."

I felt Tsukasa pull the car over. I rolled sideways with the momentum of the car and my face was suddenly shoved up against the car door. I think my wig flew off. Tsukasa's car smelt like bananas and vinegar and it was suffocating my senses. "Amu? Holy...! Are you alright? I heard something snap..."

"You just catapulted me into a missile proof wall! How do you think I feel?" I slowly rose up on my knees, and carefully slid back onto the seat. Everything was blending into each other and spun wildly becoming darker and darker. Why does my side feel like it has a separate throbbing heartbeat? "Just so you know, I feel like hell. Tell me the stupid information so I can not move in the slightest in silence - and don't you _dare _turn the radio onto the news channel."

The blur that looked like Tsukasa disappeared and returned next to me. I rolled my head towards him in an attempt to focus in on him before saying: "You smell like an old ladies house or maybe just one that likes fabric softener...and lilacs...do you have old candies in your bag or don't you have a bag? A man bag..." I paused and giggled deliriously. It felt like I was being stabbed in the side with a hunting knife. "I bet you would have a man bag. Supplies for your sparkly...sparklyness."

"Amu, I think you broke your rib. Amu. Earth to Amu. _Universe_ to Amu. Amu listen, I'm going to tell you everything now simply because it would be better for you directly after. Also I don't want you yelling obscure things like how sparkly I am to the nurse, or how you've supposedly been kidnapped – when you're _not_." Nurse? At least my rib might be treated if we are going to one. I think he glared at me, but that was nonsense. Tsukasa didn't frown, he _shone_. Like a star or an explosion. Do explosions shine? Probably not, but it would be pretty cool if they did. Or would it be dangerous? Actually it's good that they possibly do not shine. Then people wouldn't run away from them but would insist on staying and looking at the sparkles and videotape it and post it on YouTube. I wonder if those people at the cafe would be one of those people.

"Amu: pay attention to me for once. This is important. Do you remember how I only looked for you after three weeks? There was a reason for that."

I grinned, "To look for the perfect man bag before stalking me?"

"No. I do not own a 'man bag'. I own a Bentley and a marvellous one at that but now I can't wear green tuxedos anymore. Too much green, with the cars new coat of paint and all - but that's not the point. I'm sorry to put it so bluntly but two and a half weeks after you left, your father had a heart attack and didn't make it. I'm sorry for your loss. Please don't faint after I finish telling you everything."

"How could you think that, or anything else for that matter, would make me faint? And what are you sorry for? I disowned him ages ago and ..." I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and gasped in pain."Ohmigod. Either I can suddenly pee from my ribcage or I'm bleeding."

"Really?" I think Tsukasa poked my side, because whatever it was that touched my side it hurt. Actually hurt was a bad term for the sensation I was feeling. It burned, incinerated, and made me want to crawl in front of a speeding Mack truck to escape it all in one teeth-gritting moment. Every single breath, every individual movement made it even more painful and it was getting worse over time.

"Holy s-! ...spinach leaves. Okay let's make this quick. I haven't told you the best part. Since your father has passed away and there is no other family member to take care of you, I have been nominated by the government as your guardian and I agreed. You will go to Seiyo High, since I'm the founder, principal and now officially your guardian. And now you can't run away because of your broken rib - It's broken through your skin by the way. It's made a mess out of your blouse. Congratulations Amu, I'm now your father figure. How am I doing so far?"

He was right. I did faint.

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	2. Chapter 2

**APOV:**

_One of these days letters are gonna fall from the sky telling us all to go free  
But until that day I'll find a way to let everybody know that you're coming back, you're coming back for me  
'Cause even though you left me here I have nothing left to fear  
These are only walls that hold me here  
Hold me here, hold me here  
The only walls to hold me here_

_Letters From The Sky –Civil Twilight_

_Gazing up at the moon through bulletproof glass, wondering what other children around the world were doing at that exact moment. That was my favourite thing to do in the Hinamori Mansion, even though it was more a prison. Night time was the only time I was allowed to open the curtains of my windows, and I adored the time I was awake to witness it. The Hinamori Mansion was fondly nicknamed my Life House by my father. I was its only captive, and was blissfully unaware of it._

_I had everything I had ever wanted. If I wanted a new toy, a certain object, a particular type of food, it was mine. I never treated anything with respect because it could be replaced in a few hours. Sometimes when I was bored I would destroy things and rip them apart to see how they worked. My father had laughed when he walked in on me, poking a smashed plasma television with a ruler. He always said that it was a blessing for me to be so curious and encouraged me to destroy things when I was bored. _

_I never became sick. I was isolated away from the world and all its maladies, and from what I was told, that was the greatest gift I could have. My father told me that, and of all the foolish things I could've done, I believed him and grew afraid of the outer world._

_The two different humans that I knew were my father and when I turned seven, Tsukasa came along. Tsukasa would check up on me every week to give me an examination. Father said that if I became sick, he wanted to stop it as soon as possible, so I was all for Tsukasa examining me._

_The first time I saw Tsukasa, I was shocked. He looked so elegant and fragile, but moved with such conviction and grace. He bowed to me and when he smiled and to this day, I swear that the room lit up. "Good afternoon Hinamori-san. My name is Amakawa Tsukasa, but you may call me Tsukasa."_

_I nodded and sat down on the floor. "Call me Amu, Director."_

"_Director?"_

"_Your name means Director. Tsukasa, do you happen to rule, own or command a certain place?" I asked softly. Another human, in my Life House. It was a rarity. Usually someone replaced things while I left the room or slept, so I didn't see anyone._

_He chuckled. It had sounded so fluid, so beautiful compared to my father's scratchy croak of a laugh. "As a matter of fact, I am the principal of Seiyo Academy."_

_It was then my turn to be confused. "Principal? Seiyo...Academy?"_

"_Seiyo is the academy that I have founded. An academy is a school that is more prestigious than others. Mine is more of an experience than other schools." he explained gently. I nodded and grabbed a pair of scissors and began to twirl them in between my fingers._

"_But schools don't exist in reality." I stated, while frowning at his smiling face. His short blond hair contrasted against my long pink hair. "It would be too full of sickness and diseases. Cancer, Herpes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Leukaemia, Influenza, Varicella, Plague...it would just be a breeding ground."_

"_You're well informed, but those maladies don't spread like that." he sat down next to me, and took off his pristine white blazer. "They can be cured easily and with modern medicine. Some cannot, but those are rare." _

"_Nevertheless, I don't want to go there. I would get sick."_

"_What? Why?"_

_I stared him down while cutting chunks out of my carpet. Too much white in the room, I wanted to tone it down a bit. "Because my immune system is too weak. If I went outside, I would catch cancer for sure."_

_The wrinkle in between his eyebrows deepened as he frowned harder. "Cancer doesn't work like that."_

"_It did for Mother."_

_We stayed silent for ages after that, while he performed my check-up. Then he said goodbye and left. After his visit I became intrigued with the world. There were so many things that I didn't understand, and I craved to be able to know everything. I demanded newspapers, and devoured every letter. I was surprised at how all the news in the world seemed to fit the seventy four double-sided pages every time, until Tsukasa told me in my next check-up that there was more than one newspaper. In fact, there was more of a world outside my Life House and more than one language._

_I asked the empty room for language CD's and books for seventeen languages spoken on Earth and two fun ones. In three months I could speak and read fluent Chinese, Latin, English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, German, French, Korean, Hindi, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Persian, Greek, Dutch and Lithuanian. Soon afterwards, I could speak Pig Latin and could read Braille. I asked for magazines, books and newspapers from as many places as I could. Soon I wanted worldwide television. I plunked myself in front of the television, mesmerised by all the new information. I didn't have time to destroy things; I was too busy having fun. Learning was my drug, and there was so much I didn't know..._

_Yet, all I wanted was to go outside. Speak to someone I didn't know. Maybe even catch a cold. I wanted these experiences more than anything._

_After reading a crime novel in Lithuanian, I was confused. Blood. I knew what it was, but I had never seen it, touched it, smelt it. It was apparently revolting, but their opinions were different to mine. I wanted to know for myself and it was something I was capable of finding out myself. It was for those reasons why I stood in front of my mirror and plunged a pair of left-handed scissors into my shoulder. _

_It hurt. I bled. But cry? I did no such thing._

_I pulled them out and watched the gushing rivulets of crimson pour out of my body. How did so much liquid fit into the human body, stored compact and dormant inside my veins? It smelt revolting – like copper and rust – but it was simply sensational. Poetic, hypnotising, mesmerising. I stared at my reflection, smiling and laughing in glee until I blacked out._

_When I woke up, my father was screaming at me. He never shouted or even raised his voice. I was in a room I hadn't been in yet. Tsukasa calmed him down and fixed me up. He told me that hurting myself was bad, and I understood that. My shoulder burned and stang every time I moved or even took a breath. I was bedridden inside that room for days, and Tsukasa stayed by my side the whole time. He told me stories about the outside, and I told him about my life. My father checked on me every once in a while, and every time I cringed into my pillow._

_His eyes were absent of emotion. He was assessing me, like I was some kind of insect ready for dissection. The love that used to dance around in his eyes was gone, ripped apart and destroyed like an unwanted toy._

_To distract me, Tsukasa told me about music. Instruments, scores, Opera's. I didn't understand, until he pulled out his iPod and put the earphones in my ears._

_It was beautiful. The sounds, the patterns, the voices, the beats... I understood it. No matter where you were from, you could feel it. It was a language that everyone could understand. The emotions were put out and entwined into the music, making it ethereal. It was modern magic, and I wanted to know how to perform it._

_When my shoulder finally healed, I awoke in my room. But it wasn't how I had left it – the room had changed. Things were gone. Replacing all of my language books, CD's, games and toys was a piano. It was my doorway to magic, and I learnt with more vigour than I knew I possessed. Tsukasa kept visiting on social terms, not to perform a check up - but I didn't pay attention to him. I just learnt and studied, until I could play anything better than Mozart himself. Tsukasa listened and gave positive input every once in a while, but otherwise just sat back and listened to my magic. He encouraged my learning, and I lapped up all the praise I could._

_Next came the drums and then the guitar. Soon after that, I learnt the violin and cello, and after that I learnt the flute and clarinet. As soon as I mastered an instrument, I moved onto the next. It was addictive and I loved it. Tsukasa said it was like learning how to ride a 'bike': I would never forget. I didn't know what a bike was, but I liked the idea of knowing how to make magic forever. Tsukasa then gave me his iPod, saying that I needed it more than him. I was so happy that I hugged him and announced that he was my best friend – and he was. _

_While playing a certain piano piece, I sang along to it. My father then ran in, and hugged me. He said that I sounded like Midori – my mother. I said that she was an angel, and she wasn't here anymore. He nodded and walked out, muttering to himself._

_That night I couldn't sleep. Tsukasa visited, and I spoke to him about what had happened. While I spoke, I realised that I didn't know a thing about my father. I asked Tsukasa about it, and learnt more than I thought I would. My father's name was Tsumugu, and he was a scientist. His wife - my mother - had passed away due to cancer. She was a beautiful singer and dancer that he had fallen in love with during high school._

_My father didn't let me see Tsukasa after that. He said something about how Tsukasa had to visit his nephew, and I accepted that. It was selfish of me to keep on stealing Tsukasa for myself. He needed to spread his form of magic to others. As a friend, I had to let him have a life outside my Life House. I had to stop dragging him down._

_My father also told me that I had to study for the first time in my life. I had to prepare to be homeschooled. I became immersed with Mathematics, Science – all the subjects that characters in books have to study, when they go to their schools and academies. I had to ignore my own magic to focus on the present. For the first time I understood why all the teenagers in television dramas were complaining about being 'swamped' by homework._

_But even when I was doing complex algebra, I wanted the real thing. I wanted to go outside. I wanted to walk in a park, meet new people, eat an ice cream – all of that stuff. I wanted to live _life_. That was the first time that I asked for freedom._

_It was also the first time I was denied something._

_I couldn't understand. My father had promised that I would get whatever I wanted in my Life House, just as long as I didn't get sick or go outside. But I didn't want everything anymore. I didn't want a house to spend my life in; I wanted a life that I could control with my own decisions, not one that was confined by four walls._

_Tsukasa visited me that day. It was the first time I had seen him in ages, but he came bearing a gift. It was a lock. I was confused, but it was so beautiful. It was golden and had a crystal four-leaf clover on the front, with the key-hole in the middle. I owned a lot of jewellery, but none were as precious to me as this._

"_This is called the Humpty Lock. Do you know the story of Humpty Dumpty?" Tsukasa asked me with a small smile._

_I nodded. "I read that when I was little. He falls and dies, but no one knows how to fix him. It's a tragedy that isn't lock related in the slightest."_

"_Exactly. But when Humpty Dumpty fell, he left the love of his life in the world of the living, while he passed into the world of the dead. The melancholy part is that Humpty Dumpty didn't realise that he loved that girl until he died, and she didn't realise how she felt until it was too late. They only realised what they lost once they were gone." Tsukasa explained softly while I traced the clover with my pinkie. It was so delicate. For a moment I pondered on how it looked from the inside, but this... this was a one-of-a-kind object. I couldn't do such a thing._

"_Does this lock have a key?"_

"_Yes. Humpty Dumpty's loved one made the lock and key while thinking of him. Once it was made, she ran to the morgue and put the key in his pocket and the lock on a chain that she placed around her neck. Then she died hand-in-hand with him, passing on to the other side to spend eternity with her beloved."_

"_So...what does the lock and key do?"_

"_Be patient - I was getting to that. It is said that the Humpty Lock and Dumpty Key will bring two people together, to help them find love before it can be taken away from them. This lock, I am giving to you as a birthday gift in hope of you finding your beloved. Happy Birthday Amu."_

_Tsukasa also had another gift for me. When he exited the doors of my Life House, he left the door open. There was a note on the knob, which was written in neat cursive writing._

_I'll keep you father occupied._

_Run away and live life the way you were born to,_

_with the Humpty Lock as a guide._

_Never return, unless you want to live in isolation again._

_There is a backpack full of cash in the bush to your left,_

_once you exit your Life House._

_For your journey, I wish you the best of luck._

_~Amakawa Tsukasa._

I woke up with a gasp, but sank down into the crisp starchy sheets once I realised that I wasn't in any danger. I was in a giant shirt of some kind, and my whole chest was bound tight. That was all I could tell, since it was pitch dark.

I had returned to Japan – I could tell that much - yet I didn't feel at home. I felt lost and confused. My hand slipped towards the chain around my neck, where the Humpty Lock laid against the hollow of my neck. It was cold and icy against my skin, but the familiarness of the solid object calmed my heart down, slowing the skittered thuds down to calm beats.

"Never again, will I be trapped by any man or woman." I muttered into my pillow. "My life is mine to live, and freedom is a daily gift. I will do what I want and spend my life how I want to – Guardian or not. Tsukasa will never take that away from me. Not after all I've been through."

With a sigh I drifted back into the abyss of sleep – this time without any memories haunting my soul.

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	3. Chapter 3

**IPOV:**

_This don't matter like it did before  
This don't matter much anymore...  
Change my mind or help me to try  
I'm afraid and I'm not satisfied  
In this state I shall not remain_

_Empty Room, Majorie Fair_

That night in my bed, I dreamt of an angel. Soft honey eyes that reflected her feelings, long streaming fuchsia hair and a small pale face that I wanted to reach out and touch. Many might call her strange looking, but she was beautiful. Everything about her was bright and cheerful; the way she danced in the moonlight was something that I could never forget. Every single move that she made, every breath that she took was bewitching my mind with her seraphic grace. Her whole being had incinerated its way into my mind, burning herself into my soul to be remembered.

That morning I woke up with my breath caught in my throat. I looked around my dorm in vain to find her, but I couldn't find my angel. I didn't blame her; my room was empty of objects and possessions. Music sheets were scattered across the floor in a pattern that only I could understand. It all looked neat to me, but to the rest of the world my room was a dump.

Not many people in Seiyo understood music. They said that they loved it when they listened to their iPod's and sang along to the Top 40, but that isn't love. Love is a passion, a craving and a need. When you love something, you can't stop doing it and too much is never enough. That was what loving music was and that was what I did.

A sharp knock on my door snapped me out of my thoughts. The door opened to reveal Kukai. He stood in the doorway in his soccer uniform, looking critically at my dorm.

"Well, its cleaner than my room so don't expect me to judge." he laughed, while leaning in the doorway. "Dude, you look like you're stoned. Go wash your face or something."

I nodded slowly and walked into my bathroom to see someone reflected in the mirror that wasn't anything like the Ikuto that I fell asleep as. My dark blue hair was messy as always, but it was damp with sweat. I was breathing deeply and my heart was skittering around in my chest, like a frightened mouse. That was all unusual, but the most irregular thing was my eyes.

My iris was a dark blue, that seemed to be the same colour as my eyes, but it was different. My calm attitude was thrown to the wind and replacing it was...something. They were more dense and deeper, showing what was inside – not what I was trying to show.

I broke eye contact with the stranger in my mirror, washed my face and pulled out my chosen uniform out of my linen closet. After putting the clothes on, I quickly dried my hair and walked into my room to greet Kukai.

I felt like everything had changed, just from a dream. I clutched my key in my pocket tightly while we walked to class. For once we were silent, Kukai having decided that I needed some time to think. I didn't blame him – I was shocked beyond repair, already craving my angel.

x.x.x.x.x

"The Pythagorean theorem is named after the Greek mathematician Pythagoras. It is also called Pythagoras Theorem." Yuu Nikaidou, the resident mathematician, said while turning around and writing on the whiteboard. The man was almost bipolar - one minute falling over and talking with a childish voice, the next talking in a deep voice about politics and world disasters. That very same man was my homeroom teacher, and had been for the past four years.

It was a student law that every student had to learn maths, but I never paid attention. I was busy drawing in my notebook. I would compose music in my compulsory classes, but today was different. I had drawn my angel.

I had drawn her sitting on an expensive leather sofa, wearing a nightgown. She was staring at the moon. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears, while she clutched a small teddy bear in her small delicate hands. She had her lips parted, about to say something that would remain unheard. Her nightgown had two long cuts in the back, where two long wings were stretched out against the couch. The wings were long and majestic, with each individual feather glowing in the moonlight. Scattered on the floor, were broken toys and records. Broken little fragile things, left to be taken away.

For the rest of the period, I stared at that piece of paper, thinking of her. I wanted to know her name. I wondered what her favourite colour was, her favourite thing to do. What type of music she listened to, what kind of voice she had. Would she look at me, think about me, like I do her?

It only occurred to me then that I might be a little obsessed.

Nikaidou clapped loudly, snapping me out of my daze. "Okay students, put away your books. Tsukasa has asked if he could make an announcement."

Tsukasa then walked in, wearing a dark brown suit with a matching top hat. He then sat on Nikaidou's table and took off the blazer, carefully laying it next to him. "Good afternoon students. I won't keep you long, but, like Yuu has said, I have an important announcement."

He then took a deep breath and smiled softly. "As of now, there will be a new student in this year level."

There was silence, until Saaya Yamabuki stood up. "That's impossible! It's against the rules for a new student to be enrolled in Seiyo!" she screamed, while a group of girls behind her started nodding and standing up behind her.

"Calm down Saaya." Tsukasa soothed. "Ever since this academy had been founded, the rules have clearly stated that students can only enrol in their freshman year, and there can only be thirty students in a year level. This rule now has an exception."

"What about how all of us had to study really hard for a position? I had to stay in my room for months studying for the application test!" Hiro shouted, while putting his arm around Saaya's waist. She swooned. Gross.

"My family moved into the country to get here! Out of over seven thousand applicants, only thirty are accepted, and suddenly there's an _exception?_" Minami whimpered before bursting into tears.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. That rule was created to let you all grow up together as a family and disband as a family. All of the problems you face, you will grow stronger together. Besides," Tsukasa shifted on the table. I realised that he felt uncomfortable at that present moment. "That student was meant to come here, but due to curtain circumstances she was unable to make it. As of now, there is another student in this family. Treat her well."

With that Tsukasa hopped off the table with a smile, and bowed. "Until next time,_ Au Revoir._"

"Au Revoir." We all chorused, and watched as he collected his blazer and left as suddenly as he came.

"Alright, class dismissed." Nikaidou announced in a deep voice, while he ran out after Tsukasa.

"I can't believe that bitch!" Saaya screamed, picking her chair up and throwing her chair to the ground. Her so called 'friends' all agreed in harsh tones, turning over their tables in a rage.

"Saaya, Tsukasa is a man." Wakana reminded, while comforting Minami. The poor girl was sobbing into her sleeves.

"O-oh, um..." Saaya stuttered. "Well, what a man-whore!"

I had heard enough. I collected my books and walked over to Kukai and Nagihiko's table. Kukai's notebook had the date, but with a page full of noughts and crosses instead. The noughts were supremely dominating, without any losses. Written in the margin in neat writing was '_Fujisaki Domination.'_

I chuckled and reached out to mess up Kukai's hair. "Nice try. You know that Nagi owns that game."

Kukai laughed darkly under his breath while crossing his arms. "Yeah I lost to Nagi, big deal."

"It looked like it was a big deal – you broke your pencil." Nagihiko pointed out, while Kukai threw the remains of the pencil across the room.

"What pencil?"

Nagihiko smirked – we both knew that was as good as a victory you could get when Kukai was in denial. "Can I see the music that you composed this lesson?" he asked softly, making sure no one heard. We knew most of the girls in this school from love confessions – there was no reason for us to give them another thing to 'love' about us.

"Actually, I didn't compose anything." I muttered.

"Dude, it looked like you could see the Matrix. You did something in that book of yours and _I'm _going to find out. Free for all!" Kukai shouted, jumping up over his table and crash-tackling me to the carpeted floor with a crash. The class went quiet and everyone stared at us, tangled in each other's limbs.

"It was completely necessary. The boy can see the Matrix, for crying out loud!" Kukai said to the class in a very furious tone, while shaking his gravity defying bronze hair. The onlookers looked away, some letting their eyes wander freely over us while giggling to their friends.

"Nice going Kukai." Nagihiko snickered behind his hand. He helped both of us to our feet and we all sat down. Nagihiko sat in his chair, Kukai lounged on the floor and I took my usual place, sitting on Kukai's side of the desk. "So what were you staring at?"

"I had a dream last night." I muttered softly while opening my notebook and slowly flitting through the pages.

We all composed our faces to look casual, but our eyes revealed how serious we all were. Ever since I could remember, dreams were like a small window to the past or future. I would see something that had or was going to happen. Trying to figure out what they meant was a hobby of ours, but we felt like we were playing with fire. I had never dreamt something negative or bad, but in the back of my mind I knew it was only a matter of time. Horror stories were on the internet about people who could see the future through dreams. They focused about how they went insane and decided to decapitate, torture and brutally murder themselves. I wasn't a fan of that kind of stuff, but I would rather be aware than wonder halfway through the process of hacking off my arm with a spork what had sparked my sudden conclusion that the only way to become left handed is to savagely remove it with the nearest solid object.

I showed the page to them and as usual, they had vastly different expressions. Nagihiko stared at the page with his face cupped in his hands and a frown on his face. Kukai on the other hand, shot off the floor with an amazed expression.

"Hey, that girl has pink hair right? And yellow eyes?" he asked eagerly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

I didn't completely agree with him though. My angel's hair was more of a fuchsia, and her eyes were deeper than just plain yellow. They were a molten gold, with honey flecks that had burned their way into the backs of my eyelids. Every time I blinked I saw her. Every time I blinked the world was confirming that she was from a world far from mine. But to speed things along, I nodded.

"The drawing is detailed, yet in grey lead. I don't see how you were able to guess that." Nagihiko mumbled, while slightly leaning in to inspect my masterpiece.

"No, she fits the _exact _description of a girl Kaidou saw in the airport when he was coming home from Melbourne." Kukai exclaimed energetically. Kaidou was Kukai's older brother and had been sending all the Souma's emails about his adventures overseas. Only a few days ago he returned home to Japan. "He said that some creep was trying to lead her into his car, saying that she was his father or some shit. She had a wig on or something, but he kept telling me about how he could see pink at her hairline when he pushed her in the car. And the colour of her eyes, Kaidou wouldn't shut up about that. Brazen gold or something – I stopped paying attention at that part. He kept going on about how panicked her eyes were and how everyone just left her in the clutches of some paedophile that didn't look remotely related to her."

"So...she's real." I breathed, expecting the world to stop. My angel was real, walking this world. She wasn't a figment of my imagination.

"What did the supposed relative say that made everyone politely avert their eyes?" Nagihiko whispered not wanting to startle me by saying anything too loudly. I wouldn't care if he did. I was so full of happiness that I could run to the fucking moon and back with only one care in the world. Her. She was my only care in this world and only ever would be. And she was..._real_.

"Something about how she didn't like him because he was her stepfather or something..." Kukai sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I was playing a game and at that stage I had decided to ignore him."

I groaned. Perfect. The one moment I needed Kukai to pay attention and he was gaming. When Kukai gamed, he was socially dead to the world. Any form of conversation that wasn't about the game was not heard. I have to admit, the guy had determination.

"Hey, come on! I was whipping Master Hand's ass as _Jigglypuff_. I needed full concentration to control that marshmallow of a thing!" he complained, but was already forgiven. There was no reason to yell at him for something that wasn't important at the time.

"Were you daydreaming when you drew this?" Nagihiko asked, picking up the notebook and peering at the opposite side of the sheet curiously.

"Uh, I guess. I was holding the pencil in my hand, trying to think of a lament. I was wondering how to draw her onto paper and soon enough, my hand had done everything before my mind had caught up." I realised that I didn't remember actually drawing her, which was odd. You would think if you drew a goddess, you would remember - wouldn't you?

"You daydreamed." he stated. "This sketch has absolutely no flaws. Everything is perfect and the same amount of pressure is used the whole time. The side of your hand didn't touch the lead so it didn't drag over it, smudging the image. The art club would kill to be able to draw like this, and you did it _subconsciously._"

Nagihiko looked troubled by all the information. His breathing became shallow and rushed, his hands slightly shaking. To distract him I said with a straight face: "I'm not trying to impress you, but I can draw angels in my sleep."

After a moment of silence, we all cracked up laughing. Kukai then sat on the desk too, wearing a smug grin. "So the evidence says that Mystery Girl is real, huh."

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek to stop myself from grinning like mad. I was almost shaking with excitement. Everything in the world seemed somehow brighter than before. Was the sun always this bright? The grass always this green?

The smiles were contagious and soon all of us were giddy with excitement. Even I had a rare smile on my face, but I twisted my lips to make it look like more of a smirk. Instead of seeing something like a tree get cut down I had seen something questionable. An angel...or a human? Flesh and blood or feathers and light?

"Now there are a few questions for us to find out. Is she an angel? Where and who is she? Why did Ikuto dream her up, and..." Nagihiko said putting the notebook gently on the table for all of us to see. "Is this from the past, or the future?"

x.x.x.x.x

The Music Department always smelt like home and I was allowed to spend half the day in there instead of all the other classes. As a music student, I was given a lot more freedom than other types of students. The rosin, polish and scent of wood just made me feel right at home. I owned one of the only keys to the place and used the space freely.

Fortunately enough, there were no other students in Seiyo Academy that used it. It was a good and bad thing. The good part was that I had the option to isolate myself when I was learning a new piece to avoid becoming distracted. The bad part was that girls – and the occasional guy – would try and confess to me inside. I was the only person that used the instruments, even though I only used one that wasn't school property.

My violin.

A fist pounded on the glass window on the door. As strong as the glass was, the strength that the person was bashing it with was almost shattering it. I sprinted over and opened it to be smothered in a hug – one of the only hugs that I wouldn't tear away from like I was allergic.

"Ikuto! You have to help me. Now." Utau growled, grabbing my arm and unsuccessfully trying to drag me out of the department

"You always use force first. Maybe if you asked me nicely I would..." I drawled, hiding my smirk.

Even as a child, Utau was as demanding as she was today. She was competitive, stubborn, a skinny food-eating machine and was also my younger sister. Utau had inherited our mother Souko's long blonde hair, so most people didn't know that we were related. Our eyes were the only clue, Utau taking Souko's determined violet ones and myself taking Aruto's razor sharp deep blue irises.

"Please?" She muttered, glaring at the floor with a soft tinge of red on her cheeks. I almost grinned – victory was mine. She was desperate, and I was curious.

"You must want this bad. What do you need?" I asked, leaning on the door frame. "I _do _have classes to take by myself, you know."

"Could you go to the Drama storage room and get me some pink pom poms?" She asked, with sparkles practically dancing in her violet orbs.

"Say what now?" I spluttered, my arms dropping out of their relaxed position.

"I need them for a dance routine. Naomi and the others are counting on me getting them, but..." she trailed off, biting her lip and shuffling awkwardly.

"But?"

"The storage is in the basement, and it's an out-of-bounds area. Apparently it's under renovation or something, and we really, really need it! And since you're better at sneaking around in the dark I was wondering if you could do it for me since you love me so much." she explained while tapping her foot impatiently. I almost laughed – it was so like Utau to try and get me to do things for her out of sibling love.

Once upon a time, in a dark memory of mine Utau had supposedly fallen in love with me. I thought she was joking until she became possessed with the idea of us getting married and having four children called Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Ino. Like I said – a dark memory. Thankfully she grew out of it. It was a mutual decision between us to never mention it again. As far as I'm concerned, it never happened.

"So, you want me to risk getting in trouble so that I can get..._pink pom poms_ for you, all the while looking thoroughly ridiculous." I said, mulling the plan over aloud.

"Um, yeah."

I paused for a moment before nodding. "I'll give them to you in room fifteen – that's where you're practicing isn't it?"

She nodded with a big smile plastered on her face. "Thanks Ikuto! I owe you one." she said before sprinting out.

"You don't owe me anything, little sister." I whispered to the empty room, with a small smile on my face. Even now I would do almost anything for Utau – I had a soft spot for the temper mental Ramen-eating-machine.

After all, she was all that I had left.

x.x.x.x.x

Darkness consumed me as I stepped out of the service elevator. I kept the lift doors open to provide me with some light. A sparkle caught my eye, and I saw the highly wanted pink pom poms on a chair in the back of the basement.

With a proud grin, I ducked under a string of blood red lanterns and walked face first into a spider web. With a slight unmanly yelp, I pulled it off to discover that it was thankfully a prop – just like almost everything down here. All used, bought and handmade props were stored here for future performances in the theater. Seiyo Academy took their acting seriously, so along the years a lot of junk had been stored down here. I thought I saw a toilet lid hung against the wall but didn't care to find out. The place was suspicious enough as it was.

Despite Tsukasa announcing that it was under renovation, the only thing that had indicated such a thing was the yellow tape that was strewn all over the doors of the elevator. I had destroyed it during my break-in but I wasn't feeling guilty since it seemed to be a lie. With a swift snatch I grabbed the two pink balls of plastic, mentally applauding myself.

"Well, that was easy." I whispered with a smirk. Against the chances of staying here for hours on end, searching for an item that possibly wasn't even here; I had found it in less than five minutes. The odds of this happening were against me, no matter how awesome I might think I am.

A shift of movement in the back of the room caught my attention, and I ducked under a canoe and shoved a pirate hat on in a lousy attempt to hide myself from any other intruders such as myself.

After a few moments of squatting, trying to blend in with my surroundings, I noticed that the noise was coming from a door on the other side of the room. Only then did I realise that the props were cleared to create an elaborate pathway to and from the door and elevator. Curiosity overwhelming me, I pocketed the pink fluff balls in my blazer and slowly walked along the path, putting the pirate hat on an inflatable _Megatron_ as I passed by.

I took my cell phone out to light up the door and saw a crooked red plus painted on the front, as a sign of first aid. It was still wet. Throwing caution to the wind and ignoring my screaming senses to _get the hell out; _I grasped the brass knob, twisted gently and opened the door.

And there she was.

Even in the dying candle light, I knew it was her. It was as if she had stepped from my twisted mind and into reality. My angel was lying on a hospital bed, with a huge IV in her arm. The blanket over her was pulled down, showing a huge blood-stained bandage that covered her whole upper body, cutting off at the beginning of her arms. She had a thin sheen of sweat on her face, matting her fuchsia hair to her head. Her eyelids were closed, masking her golden orbs from the world. It didn't take a genius to realise that she wasn't well. It was almost like she had fallen from the sky, losing immortality for humanity.

I stepped forward, closer to her. Her breathing was so soft and shallow, her chest rising the minimal amount to continue surviving. My angels face was paler than I remembered from my dream, almost ghastly. It was almost as if her face was painted while she slept – but I knew it wasn't so. My fingertips brushed the soft material that was her blanket and carefully covered her torso. I almost gasped – could I wake her? It would only take a second. Just one nudge could bring her away from the clutches of sleep and return her to the world of the living. But would she like me? If she was any other girl I would scoff at my own self doubt.

But she wasn't any other girl. She was perfection, hand crafted by a god. I never was a strong believer in any type of religion, but now I was beginning to doubt my decision.

I heard a soft groan from the other side of the room. I whirled around to see a small girl with long wavy blonde hair shift from her sleeping position on another bed. I couldn't be caught – Utau would be in as much trouble as I would be, since she needed the pom poms in the first place. With a regretful look to my angel, I ran out the door, shutting it and sprinting into the service elevator. The doors closed behind me and some badly recorded classical music began to play. I leaned on the reflective walls with a deep sigh, closing my eyes.

My fallen angel. Even though I hadn't even been gone for a moment, I felt like I had left a part of myself with her, wounded in the dark, under the school with no one aware of her existence.

**Please leave a review. If there isn't enough feedback, this story will be neglected.**


	4. Chapter 4

**APOV:**

_Ouch I have lost myself again_

_Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,_

_Yeah I think that I might break_

_I've lost myself again and I feel unsafe_

_Be my friend_

_Hold me, wrap me up  
_

_Unfold me_

_I am small  
_

_I'm needy  
_

_Warm me up  
_

_And breathe me_

_Breathe Me, Sia_

Books have taught me many things, as they do. As such, books are so curious, so perceptive. Some portray another lifestyle; others tell you how to do things. A few are incredibly useless but to others it may be the exact thing they need. That's the thing about books – they can wait. Wait to be rediscovered, staying to be found.

Humans on the other hand, we cannot wait. We must have, must possess what we desire as fast as possible. Humans are weak, greedy, and are driven by the want factor. If they want money, they go to work. If they want an item of clothing, they buy it. If they want something exactly the way they want it to be, they will make it so. If we don't get what we want, we will find a way to do so. Why? Simply because we want it.

As human as I am, I am also driven by want. I wanted to wake up. But here's the thing – I couldn't. To say this was odd was an understatement. It was ridiculous and bordering on the edge of impossible. I knew that I had woken up earlier, so I _couldn't _be dead. I wanted to have full control over my body but I didn't have it. What had happened that had made me lose the will of my own body – my own vessel to reality?

I didn't know much, but I had a hunch.

Tsukasa Amakawa – the curse of my life.

He may have given me the doorway to reality, and I respected him for that. He may have been my best friend for most of my life, and I remember that. But when you give someone a gift such as freedom and then try to take it away from them with an unhealthy amount of stubbornness and determination...that's when I draw the line. In fact, I should have drawn the line a long time ago. He had crossed it, destroyed it, obliterated the line into little dead-line-dust. And it was all his fault.

The first time I saw him in the world was in New York. I was busking on a street corner with an old guitar, releasing my magic into the busy streets when I caught a glimpse of his platinum blonde hair and a navy blue suit. I packed up and greeted him with a smile, that wasn't returned. It was strained and false, pasted all over his face like plaster.

"_I'm taking you back to your Life House."_

The second those forsaken words fell from his mouth, I had to jump back to avoid his left hand from grabbing my wrist in a death grip. Ducking and dodging through the busy streets of New York, filled with people who couldn't care less about an abduction being performed in front of their very eyes. That day I escaped, realising that even though I had escaped my own prison, making my own life wasn't the right thing to do. Making a name for myself was impossible. Even though the world was mine to walk freely, I couldn't afford to let the world see me as I am. I had to change my image, corrupt the person that I was to hide myself from the world that was so new to me. I couldn't risk an education, I couldn't risk telling someone who I really was. Not when I could lose it all.

I was only twelve – in need of parental supervision and a home. Social Services were a pain in the ass, always saying that I was in 'denial' and that 'I needed an adult role model.' I call bullshit – I know more than any adult, been through more than any adult. The one time I was caught was in Mexico. I had to leave immediately since they told Tsukasa where I was. I hadn't even eaten a taco yet. Or a burrito. I wasn't picky, but _damn_ I wanted one.

If he wanted to help me, he should have just left me to die in my Life House. As much as I loved my freedom, if he was going to tear it away from me once I had it, I would rather die never knowing how it felt. That's how freedom is – once you have it, you're broken without it.

And now look what Tsukasa has done to me. Before I met him, I was isolated in a house with anything I wanted. A proverbial paradise, laced with innocence. Now I had the bitter taste of defeat churning in my stomach, broken bones, lacking the knowledge of how to control my own body and a dead father.

After all that, who _wouldn't _be thankful?

x.x.x.x.x

The darkness began to shift, spin and splinter into many different pieces – the same in every single way imaginable but so different that I would slap anyone that said that they were identical. I stared, dazed at the shifting pieces until I realised that I had control over my vision. I blinked and a smile crept over my face.

_Tsukasa Amakawa, you haven't won yet..._

The room was a mess. Literally. It was almost like a typhoon had smashed into a variety of OP Shop's and variety stores and dumped them in seemingly casual places. After observing my surroundings, I realised that the whole room was quite old – apart from all the machines by my side. I reached my hand out and pulled a magic carpet off a television screen to see my heartbeat monitored. Surely enough, there was a monitoring clip on my index finger. The bed I had been sleeping on was from a hospital – the metal bars and stench of chemicals proved it. I yanked off the finger clip and threw it across the room, hearing it drag several other objects down to the ground.

But even though I should've felt overwhelmed by my surroundings, I wasn't. It felt like I had missed something important, vital. I heard a small ding from another room, but shrugged it off. My blanket... something had changed. My bandaged chest was cold, freezing to the touch from the icy stale air.

But, despite all that, I had butterflies in my chest. Fluttering around, spreading like wildfire, and scorching my insides.

A noise to my left snapped me out of my stupor, and I swear that a freaking Cinderella reincarnate sat up from another hospital bed and stared at me. Her doe-like eyes met my plain yellow ones. I expected her to smile or something, but instead she just raised an eyebrow.

"How do you feel?" she asked in her soft voice. I expected her to sound generally concerned for me, the recently conscious human in the room, but her voice gave away that she really didn't give a shit. She probably wanted to be watching television or something – not speak to a runaway. Shit, she would probably think I was some type of peasant!

"Like shit." I replied, peering down under the blankets. I even _looked _like shit – well more like a bloody carcass that even a starving lion wouldn't dare to eat, fearing infection and death. So I guess I looked more like dead shit. I almost smirked, _Just one of my many charms..._

The side of her lip twitched upwards, before she forced it down again. "That tends to happen when you have been in a medically induced comatose for over a month."

"W-what?"

She looked at me funny, like I had some food on my face. "Yeah, a forced coma. Basically you were in a forced sleep for ages while a dripping bag fed you food and painkillers through an IV."

I was shocked. He might have actually won. To prevent a silence from falling down upon us, I said the first thing that came to my mind: "Did it taste like chicken?"

She was silent for a few seconds until a small tinkly laugh erupted from her mouth. She clamped her hand over her small mouth and calmed down before she continued. "I haven't tried it myself, but since most things do so I guess that's a safe assumption. It's more of a nutrition chemical."

"Nutrition chemicals taste like chicken? Who would have guessed..." I mused aloud. I chuckled once to myself before a razor blade of pain sliced through my chest. I gasped aloud, and was about to clutch my stomach when she slapped my hands away, suddenly at my side.

"Your wound opened. It was time for a bandage change anyway. Hands off, let the pro do her job..." she muttered, swatting my interfering hands far away from my chest. She gently forced me into an upright position. "Now do me a favour and look at the unicorn on the roof. It was taken from a Merry-Go-Round seven years ago."

I looked up. Surely there it was, just like she had said but hornless. It was a dark violet with a bright white saddle with black lining– most people would call the violet a dark blue but I knew better. "That's a horse. Unicorns have a hor-" I began, but was unable to continue. I could feel some sort of wet liquid on my chest, lightly warming me up. Then I felt a soft peeling sensation, like a layer of skin was being removed similarly to butter on a knife. Shortly after that, my chest was being bound again. I couldn't help but think about it. Layers and layers of bandage, holding my body together. I was so fragile at this present moment, so weak.

"There." she muttered, announcing the completion of my temporary skin. She was smirking, taking pride in her work. It was done really neatly, almost artistically. I would be proud too, if I had done it so well. "If you weren't drugged up on painkillers now, it would have felt like I just skinned you, then decided against it and forced the skin back on you."

"Huh. Thanks...um..."

"Mashiro. Rima Mashiro" she said, sitting cross-legged on the end of my bed. I moved my feet to give her more space.

"Amu Hinamori." I replied, feeling strange saying my own name out loud. I hadn't said those two words in over five years. It didn't even feel like my own anymore – for such a long time I had just thought of cool names and made fake ID's for them. I owned over seventy, with vastly different faces for each. It was amazing what a little bit of makeup and hair dye could do.

"Amu...that's a really original name. I like it." Rima said, smiling at me. From not caring a bit, she had grown almost like a friend to me in a matter of minutes. It was strange how human nature was like that, but somehow instead of critising it, I...liked it. It was strange, not hating my humanity.

"Rhymes, poetry, antelope. Your name can mean many things, and each one is beautiful. I have no idea what mine is supposed to mean but I bet its something weird like 'I am you' or something." I murmured, shyly returning the smile.

She laughed again, her cheeks tinting red from laughing too much. "Yeah, and I bet Mashiro means something along the lines of marshmallow." Rima looked at me for a second, before smiling sadly. "You don't know why you're here, do you?"

I paused, before thinking my answer through. "I have an idea." _That idea being a deluded ex-friend took me here after catapulting me into a missile-proof wall. Its these type of things that I never forget. _

"But you don't have the knowledge. Just an idea, nothing more." Rima began to look at her nails without interest – almost as if she was shy. "You're in Seiyo Academy, Amu. The most prestigious school in all of Japan, and debatably, all of Asia. In a critical state, Tsukasa Amakawa took you to Takumi Yamashima – an illegal doctor that owed him a favour. He lived in Canberra, and – long story short – he illegally patched you up, induced you into a coma and illegally transferred you to Japan." she paused to catch her breath, before continuing. "Oh yeah, you broke your rib and it punctured your chest, ripping a large-ass hole in it. Good times, huh?"

"Highlight of my life." I joked, trying to keep the mood light. I should have been afraid, shocked, terrified, but something kept me from going insane and crying my eyes out. At least I didn't need to fake my visa again. "So, who's Takumi?"

"My father." she said, without hesitation. "Tsukasa is the principal of Seiyo, and Takumi sometimes does a favour for him in trade for cash and other things. In trade for something, Tsukasa gave me a position in Seiyo – there are only thirty available, so its top shit for me to actually get in. I was pulled out of classes to keep you, as Tsukasa put it, 'alive'. Which is fair enough, since you looked like you got hit by a truck or something."

"Getting hit by a truck might have been the better option." I mumbled, more to myself. Rima looked at me with concern in her eyes, but I brushed her gaze away. "What do I get to look forward to once I'm better?"

She grinned. By all means it should have looked angelic, but it looked purely evil. "When that happens, you need to haul your ass back to class."

"E-Excuse me?"

"That's right." Rima pulled a note out of her pocket, unfolding it and smoothing the crinkles out before turning my bedside lamp on. Only then did she give the note to me.

"These have been transferred through the school. It's on every wall, every tree and every post in the school." Rima chuckled. "You're going to piss a _lot _of people off – and you haven't even begun."

_I, Tsukasa Amakawa, hereby declare Rule #665 invalid, and will be changed._

_A new student has been enrolled into Class Nine: Euphoria._

_This student is the only exception to this rule._

_I apologise for any unpleasant emotions that I have caused._

_Any students that try to physically/emotionally hurt will face severe consequences, and possibly expulsion._

_For all questions, see me at my office on Tuesday at 7pm._

_I will be holding a meeting specifically concerning Rule #665.  
_

_Au Revoir._

_Tsukasa Amakawa_

Rima stared at me with intense orbs. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and slightly shifted my sitting position. "So...Seiyo has a lot of rules, huh."

She snorted and ran her fingers through her thick golden mane. "You don't know half of it. Rule #665 is the last one in the book, so chances are that he's going to make new rules to maintain your safety in the school."

"I don't need safety. I'm perfectly fine on my own." I shot back. In Germany, I was almost mugged in an alley by seven thugs – each one armed with a pipe. During the day I was busking, so they must have seen how much money had been put in my guitar case and wanted some of the cash for themselves. That was when I discovered that I could fight; I could prevail even in the darkest of scenarios. I would survive no matter what, because a Hinamori never gives up.

"Not in that condition." Rima stared down my determined eyes with flaming topazes. I almost felt afraid. "Any sudden movements with that big-ass hole in your chest would rip it further. Injured people can't go around being all macho."

"Its not _that _bad..." I feebly protested, but I knew that I had been beaten. I changed the subject to other things. "Why would people want to hurt me? I'm just some girl who rocked up to the party late."

"You have no idea how prestigious Seiyo really is, do you?" Rima said, not to anyone in particular.

I chuckled to myself. "It's world-widely famous. So what?"

"Yeah, but what it's famous _for _is the big part. Seiyo is basically renowned for being the most messed up, strict school that has ever been invented. It's like _Alice in Wonderland _– that's how much sense some things make." Rima breathed out and then began in a choppy tone, as if she had talked about it so many times before, but no one had listened to her.

"There are dormitories, even though it's technically not a boarding school, Rule #78 states that each student and teacher has to live on campus. For your whole schooling, you are not allowed out unless your parents take you on the holidays – which almost everyone does. Apart from then, don't expect to see outer life. Each year level must have _exactly _thirty students – fifteen of each gender and all born in the same year. You can only become a student at the start of year seven. Any other time and its technically illegal. Your application will be denied. Each year level is given a word that they're called. For example, I'm in _Euphoria_ – Year Nine. Tsukasa says that each person in your year level is your family. There are no punishments, so that if there is a quarrel you will get over it as a family – even though counselling is an option, no one takes it due to the fact that for two hours a week you would be seeing more sock puppets than you would in that session than your entire life.

"Then there are the stupid rules, like how you _must _eat burritos on Wednesday. We have a scheduled food plan, every one eats the same thing – teachers and Tsukasa included. You have the option to drop base subjects, but the rules state that you must attend all base subjects until the end of your schooling. I've forgotten a few important things and some stupid ones, but I guess you'll eventually figure them all out. The only cool thing is that Rule #36 states that you must make your own uniform."

"Own...uniform...?" I mumbled, head spinning from the information overload. Like _hell _I was going to remember all that. I always knew that Tsukasa was fucked up in the head, but this school, this supposedly famous _creation _of his was disgusting. It was like he had total control over the petty, the crucial and everything in between – and who the hell makes over six hundred and sixty rules anyway?

"I hope you're creative. You must design your own uniform for Summer – you can do the winter one when it's closer. The rules are that it must be something that you won't regret later in schooling, but looks like a school uniform. Also, it has to incorporate the colour black – our chosen year level colour." Rima gave me a notepad and a whole bunch of coloured pencils. "Now hurry up and draw – Maria's coming down here in an hour to make whatever you come up with."

I didn't want to draw my uniform, no matter how fun the activity sounded. I wanted to leave this famous prison of a school. Rima had basically said that this place was a living cage for students and I wanted no part of it. But I was injured and she looked so persuasive and I wanted to be her friend so I drew the first thing that came to my head.

x.x.x.x.x

The girl in my drawing was awesome. No, I'm lying. She was fucking epic, and slightly resembled me, which I liked quite a lot more than I should have.

Chibi-Me wore a white shirt with a red tie with a black V-neck jumper over it, and had pulled out the tie out loosely like the awesome rebel she was. The short red plaid skirt had chains hanging from one side, and she wore matching leg warmers to the skirt. A red armband had been loosely pinned to the right arm of her jumper and she wore fingerless black gloves with black painted nails. She wore black runners that looked a lot like Converse sneakers – I hadn't decided yet since the leg warmers covered them quite a bit. Chibi-Me was also holding a pair of drum sticks, but I guess I would just have to acquire those myself.

Rima was spending her time reading a Gag-Manga when the door opened to reveal a small girl. She had raven black hair and watery violet eyes. I just wanted to hug her and give her anything in the world – she was just so _freaking cute!_

Raven-haired-girl walked over to my bed, stood on a chair and looked at my awesome sketch. She then nodded to herself even though my drawing of amazing deserved more than a brief nod. Rima cleared her throat to catch my attention.

"Amu, this is Maria. She would introduce herself but is much too shy to attempt the task, let alone think about trying. She's in _Euphoria_ and is a complete professional at making clothes." Rima stated before diving back into her book.

Maria studied me with watchful eyes and then spoke so softly I was almost unaware that she had spoken at all. "Someone visited here today. Not myself, her or you, but someone else. A fourth party. This place isn't safe."

Rima shot up, mouth gaping. "_No way. _It must have happened while I was sleeping, as humans do. Shit, if someone finds her..." she trailed off, precaution lacing every word.

"Hide her in my dorm." Maria resolved. "No one ever visits me and it's in plain sight – no one would suspect it."

"In the closet?"

"My thoughts _exactly._"

"And this way we can make her uniform faster, right?"

"That is correct."

Rima blew out a huge breath and jumped up. "Alrighty. Let's take a risk and move her tonight – Tsukasa's flyer says that there's a meeting on at his office about Amu, so everyone in school should be there - knowing how prejudiced they can be. Its the perfect moment to strike, right under their noses too!"

Maria nodded, raven hair swaying. "I _do _like striking..."

"Hey! Do I even get a choice in this decision?" I piped up, being silent for too long.

Both girls glared at me with no mercy. Malice was only present in their eyes. "No." Rima growled. "It's my job to keep you safe, so too bad. Besides...I have a feeling things are just starting to get interesting."

Even though I hated to admit it, Rima was right. I had the same feeling and until my stomach healed, I wasn't going anywhere. I just had to go with the flow and hope for the best, because up there, above ground, there was a very fancy school full of enraged students, all hating me for unwillingly entering their silly little world where they could only eat burritos on Wednesday and school counsellors have an unhealthy obsession with sock puppets.

They can have their silly little world all to their spoilt little selves, because all I wanted to do was walk freely in the world, accompanied by life's greatest gift – the gift I didn't possess at this current time.

Freedom.

**Please leave a review. If this story lacks feedback, it will be neglected.**


	5. Chapter 5

**IPOV:**

_There's something lurking from the shadows within  
_

_Stealing the colour and life from my skin_

_They fantasize fury at no extra cost_

_Darkness approaches now we're at a loss_

_Sometimes, when all that's lost remains_

_Drink from the fountain of youth and never age again_

_Sometimes we jump across to every cloud_

_Fly away get lost and never be found_

_Sometimes, Miami Horror_

It's amazing how humans get so attached to material objects. Some people obsess over them and dedicate their life to collecting them while others hoard everything that they could possibly want, destroying their entire lifestyle in the craze. We want to possess, to have, to keep what others can't.

Those are only a few examples, but the craze doesn't stop there. Humans keep things that are important to them. Jewellery, flowers, cards, tickets, candy wrappers. The list keeps on going. We accumulate such objects and decorate our living spaces with them, showing who we are and what we have done.

It's the memories inside them that we want to hoard.

Secretly, we all want some things to be remembered forever. From things such as taking a photo to preserve the memory from buying something for someone else, so they can remember you. Memories are such precious things, so when they are stored into an object, they become irreplaceable. You wouldn't notice if someone had switched a certain necklace with an exact replica, but if you were informed about the switch you wouldn't like it. Why? Because it wasn't _that one. _The one that you were given, the one with the memories.

I didn't hoard such objects. Utau did, Kukai did, Nagihiko did, but not I. I don't feel the need to secure myself in reality with little trinkets to help boost my memory. Because one day, I'll forget what a certain piece of paper was from, who gave me a certain flower and I will throw it away, forgetting the memory along with it. I use each object for its usefulness, not for its mental security.

Only recently did I understand why they did this.

When I was on my way to deliver the pom poms, I felt uneasy. I took my time and walked through the school garden, stashing the highly wanted item inside my blazer. Gazing at flowers is a thing that can calm me down regardless of the situation. It was something about how each flower is the epitome of perfection, crafted to bloom at its maximum beauty and then slowly pass away, fertilising the ground so that other flowers can be more beautiful that the past. I considered taking the pom poms for myself, to hide them away from Utau, but what would drive me to do such a thing - to deny my little sister such a simple item?

"What is it about this item that makes me crave it so badly?" I muttered under my breath, feeling the icy cold plastic tickle me through all my layers of clothing. With a hard slap of reality, I realised what had made me want to keep them to myself.

Bright shining fuchsia burnt its way into my mind, rendering my train of rational thought unconscious. What I had seen before wasn't an illusion, a trick or a dream. She was there. I had seen her with my unworthy eyes, breathed the same air she had.

An angel was under the school – but not any ordinary angel.

My angel.

I began to walk towards Utau's room with my mind in the clouds. Not for the first time, I wondered if she felt the same magnetic pull as I did. Did she feel like we had met before, even though I knew for a fact that we had never seen each other in our entire lives? The way that every time I walked, looked or even thought about the school building I considered venturing to my angel again. But I couldn't. She was brutally injured and guarded by some girl...

A girl that looked kind of familiar, forgotten in the depths of my mind, but altogether unimportant. It didn't matter if she was guarded by a little girl or a demon the size of Mars – there was no way that I wasn't going to return to her side.

x.x.x.x.x

Kukai dropped his controller into his cereal, mouth gaping. "You found _what?_"

Nagihiko and I took a step back to avoid the splash. I nodded, "Yeah."

"In the _basement?" _he shouted, standing up. The cereal bowl crashed to the floor, spilling Fruit Loops all over the floor along with a thoroughly destroyed GameCube controller.

"Yeah." I said, eyeing the mess with distain. "You gonna clean that up?"

"Nope!" he replied, flopping back onto the couch with a lazy grin that only a Souma child could perfect. He turned the television off and gave me his full attention. "But still, that's pretty cool."

Nagihiko kicked the bowl, spilling more chocolate milk onto the floor. "You insist on eating Fruit Loops in my dorm, which is okay. You're my friend and I eat in here too, so I can accept that. Then you insist on eating a ghastly mix of Fruit Loops and chocolate milk, which I guess is okay, even though it looks like a massacred rainbow with high sugar levels. But I cannot accept you dropping your multicoloured mess on my carpet and refusing to clean it up. Fix it. _Now._"

Kukai yawned and got to his feet and stumbled off to get the cleaning supplies without a single complaint. The corner of my mouth curved upwards – he should have known better than to dirty a Fujisaki's property. Despite Nagihiko being a gentleman, if you refused to clean up your own mess in his dorm, the guy would not hesitate to use your ass as a rag to it clean up.

"Keep on talking," Kukai shouted from the bathroom. "I can still hear you!"

Nagihiko coughed uncomfortably and sat down on the somehow still-clean couch. I took my usual place on the recliner, putting my feet up. "You said she was injured. How so?"

"She was..." Brutally injured, bleeding a crimson river under her soaked bandages. Her face was pale and a light sheen of sweat was coating her forehead, but despite all that, she was beautiful. "Hurt badly. A bandage bound her stomach tightly, as if to keep her stomach from falling through."

"How far up did the bandage go up to?"

"Uh, I think it was to her collarbone." I replied, feeling uneasy. The whole time I had been fantasizing about her face and personality, completely forgetting about how beaten she looked. Was she okay? If I remembered well enough, there was an IV in her arm. Is my angel in a stable condition or is the situation more serious than I thought? I felt a huge urge to rush down and check, but knowing that the little she-demon was looking after her stopped me. I was lucky that her guardian was asleep – who knows what kind of trouble I could have gotten into?

"Hm." Nagihiko murmured. We heard a few clashes from the bathroom, but otherwise it was completely silent. "Ikuto, your daydream drawing gives the suggestion that your Mystery Girl is an angel. Since her back is bound so tightly with bandages, do you think there is a possibility that it might have something to do with her wings?"

"A fallen...angel?" The words came out of my mouth in a breathy whisper, so quiet I wasn't sure if I had said them or not.

Nagihiko shrugged, as if the newfound information was something unimportant. "It's just a possibility, you never know. For all we know, she could have been stabbed." He paused before pulling out his sketchpad. He hesitated before speaking. "Hey...calling her Mystery Girl is a little crude, isn't it? I feel like I'm insulting her or something. For now we should name her something until we find out what her real name is. What do you think her name could be?"

Kukai came in with the marshmallow spray and a vacuum cleaner. "How about Mia?"

"No. It doesn't suit. It almost sounds too short for her." I automatically replied.

Nagihiko took his turn with calculating eyes. "...Maika?"

"It still doesn't suit. Too similar to Mia, I think."

"Yen?"

I stared at Kukai while he picked up his bowl and put the marshmallow spray onto the carpet. The spray came onto the carpet like water, then slowly grew tall, fluffy and thick. It looked like shaving cream but smelt like candy, thus the name. Besides, none of us could read Italian and couldn't be bothered to check it up. "Really Kukai? You would call her 'money'?"

"Shut up, I'm broke at the moment! Besides money solves _everything_." he said in a condescending tone, almost as if it was the most common fact in the world and I was a complete moron for staying oblivious to it.

"Suzuna?" Nagihiko said to keep everyone on topic. I noticed that he was writing down all the names in his sketchpad.

"Nope, definitely doesn't suit."

"Kami?"

"I really like that one, but-"

Nagihiko cut me off before I could continue. "Not a good idea. It means God in Japanese, so you would be offending people."

Kukai sighed in defeat. "Fine then. Be that way." Without missing a beat he continued. "How about Teriyaki?"

"...Would _you_ name someone Teriyaki? Kukai, I'm gonna feel so sorry for your children when it comes to naming them. Even if it had another meaning I wouldn't choose it. Too weird."

"Naomi?" The corner of my mouth twitched upwards. It sounded so Japanese – it was just like Nagihiko to say something so authentic.

"I like it, but once again it doesn't suit." Nagihiko nodded and made some notes in his sketchpad. I was curious, but then again he could just be drawing something. Despite my reasoning, not everything revolved around my angel.

"Uh..." Kukai sat down on the coffee table and thought for a second. "How about...Sakura?"

Horror cut through my relaxed mood like a blade. Sakura. Oh _god_. Utau wanted to name one of our children that. Shit, I didn't even want to _go there_.

"_Never._" I spat out.

"Fine then!" Kukai huffed. Maybe my response was too harsh – but then again... "How about _you_ pick a name, because I'm all out of ideas!"

"Uh, I'm not too sure. I've been calling her Angel, so..." I muttered, feeling foolish.

Kukai burst out laughing while Nagihiko made more notes. "You _actually _called her Angel? Dude, that's cheesier than Sweden!" He paused, putting on a more serious face. "But that also sounds kind of cool, huh."

Silence brewed around us while each of us became lost in our own thoughts. Nagihiko broke it when he threw his pen onto the table.

"Tenshi."

"That's actually quite suitable. I like it...a lot. It's perfect." I said in disbelief. I had actually thought that no name would suit her, but that one actually suited her quite well. "How did you do it?"

Nagihiko smirked, showing off his pearly whites. "With this." He turned around his sketch pad. It looked just like his notes in class, but different. It was more laid out, formatted and even more planned than his usual handwriting. Just by looking at it you could tell that he had put a lot of thought into it.

_**Names for Miss Anonymous:**_

_Mia – too short, two vowels. _

_Maika – two vowels, doesn't suit – doesn't like names starting with M?_

_Yen – too stupid, one vowel. Even if it didn't mean money, Ikuto wouldn't like it._

_Suzuna – 'definitely doesn't suit.', three vowels – doesn't like names with three vowels or more?_

_Kami – liked it, two vowels. Has a heavenly meaning – likes celestial names? Japanese names?_

_Teriyaki – toostupidforwords, too weird, four vowels. Definitely doesn't like more than three vowels._

_Naomi – likes it but not quite, three vowels. Definitely likes Japanese names._

_Sakura – ultimate _no, _three vowels. Hates the name with a passion?_

_Angel – likes it, but sounds too suspicious. Two vowels suit her. The nickname suits her too._

_**Factors:**_

_**o Likes Japanese names**_

_**o Heavenly meanings**_

_**o Two vowels**_

_**o No 'M' names.**_

_**o Not from Naruto(?)**_

_**TENSHI – means angel.**_

"You are a genius." I breathed out. I was kind of creeped out that he picked up on the names from Naruto thing, but that _had _to have been a fluke. There was no way that Utau would have told him – even if he was incredibly polite and trustworthy.

Kukai nodded and vacuumed up the marshmallow spray. Surely enough, the carpet was once again pure white. You wouldn't know that a preservative-filled rainbow had tainted the carpet before, unless you had seen the sugary horror with your own eyes. "Yeah, sure. If I had taken notes I would have said Tenshi before him." Even though he was complaining, respect for Nagihiko was evident in his eyes. "Hey Ikuto, why _did _ you leave Tenshi? I mean, you could have called us and we would have rushed down."

"Oh yeah." I suddenly felt really stupid. I forgot to tell them about the she-demon that was guarding...Tenshi. Angel. _My _Angel. "There was a girl looking after her that was waking up, so I left."

Nagihiko sat up straighter, paying more attention. "This is important. What did she look like? Does she go to Seiyo?"

"Uh, I think so. It was kinda dark so I couldn't see if she was wearing her own uniform. However, I did notice that she was really short and had really long blonde hair." I paused before adding a detail that was probably unnecessary. "Even though it might have been because I didn't want to leave, she looked kinda evil. She just had this...aura to her."

Nagihiko did an uneasy chuckle while all the blood drained out of his face. "That would have been Rima Mashiro. The whole evil part nails her personality."

Kukai grinned. "I know _her! _She's in my Physics Nagi, isn't that the chick that calls you a cross dresser?"

"Uh, yeah." Nagihiko muttered, feeling awkward. Most people thought he was a girl at first glance because of his long violet hair. The fact that he's a professional dancer didn't help the situation either.

"Thought so. She's been absent for _ages _recently – I thought that she was skipping classes since I hadn't seen her for so long..." Kukai mused, with a hand stroking his imaginary beard.

"Hold up – why does the whole evil thing suit her?" I inquired.

Nagihiko took that moment to sigh heavily. He looked older almost, a rare frown gracing his features. "Rima looks like a porcelain doll, and acts all innocent when she's actually far from it. She always pulls some form of prank during class but no one suspects it's her. When the teacher _does _accuse her, she cries and then all is forgotten. Not many people know that she pulls most of the pranks but she has a book _full _of her evil deeds, disguised as a diary. I saw it by accident when I helped her pick up her books. She plots and then writes a report about how it went. It's timed to seconds and everything – like military plans." I was a little shocked at how much Nagihiko knew about her. His eyes showed general disapproval, but it also revealed admiration and something else.

I was about to ask how Nagi felt about her when a sharp knock resonated through the dorm. Hiro opened the door and looked at all of us with cold eyes. "Tsukasa's meeting is on right now. Hurry up – we need as many numbers as we can for us to kick the new kid out. This joint is _ours!_" he growled before slamming the door.

"Wasn't that door locked?" I asked, walking over and opening the door. The knob was slightly crumpled, crippling the keyhole.

"That fat pig probably broke it. By looking at the damage it'll just lock and you won't be able to open it from the outside. Pig Man just opened it by chance." Kukai chuckled, instantly lightening the mood. He turned to me with a grin. "I feel like a sleepover anyway. Looks like we're sleeping in your room tonight."

Nagihiko stood up before stretching. After a quick glance at the clock, he smirked. "Looks like we're going to be late to the super important meeting then. Ikuto, go to your dorm – Kukai and I will move our junk there. Once we are finished, we'll head off to the meeting. No one will notice our lateness – if anything Tsukasa should be happy that three students aren't complaining."

We all nodded. Nagihiko turned to his bedroom to get his stuff while Kukai and I split off into different directions to get to our dorms. In the distance I could hear shouts, screaming and destruction – it was definitely the meeting. I should have been worried, but that was far from my concern.

My one and only concern was Tenshi – The Angel of my Dreams.

x.x.x.x.x

I leant on the cold brick wall outside my dorm. Kukai and Nagihiko had taken over ten minutes already – not that I was counting or anything.

The shouts had died down since my dorm was one of the few that were sort of off campus. I was placed near Seiyo's Forest. Not many people knew what it was for or if it even had a purpose, but usually if anyone wanted something to be secret they went into the woods to do it.

I heard a sharp crack to my left. I stood still, peering through the hair that was drooping over my face. A small girl walked past me, feet lightly tapping against the stone ground. If it wasn't for her tell-tale long raven hair, I wouldn't have guessed who it was.

"Maria, what on_ Earth_ are you doing at this time of day?" I asked. She jumped and froze up, stiffly shuffling around to look at me.

"I...uh..." She tilted her head to the side while she tried to think her choice of words through. "I'm sorry, I thought that you would be at the _meeting_." she said loudly, almost shouting.

"Yeah, Hiro broke Nagi's door so Kukai and him are going to be sleeping at mine until they get better accommodations. I'm waiting for them to bring their stuff so we can then go to the meeting." I explained. Maria also lived near the Forest area. We didn't talk much, but apparently she was a cosplay genius or something. She also made uniforms for students that didn't know how to sew, which I always thought was pretty nice. She was a quiet neighbour and a good person, so I didn't mind talking to her.

"Yeah, uh, I'm...going to my dorm?" Maria said this in a questioning tone, as if she was asking if I would buy her lousy excuse or not. Luckily for her, I wasn't a fan of invading other people's business so I let it past with a brief nod.

She nodded before quickly walking past me, "Okay then, I'll see you later Ikuto! Get going to the meeting – it's a really important one!" she advised before going into a dead sprint towards the Forest.

A small clack alerted me to an object at my feet. It was a student pass. All people on campus had to have a pass that identified them. It said all the places that you were allowed to travel to in Seiyo and your relatives. You could travel to places that your relatives were, as long as it was for that reason. If you didn't have one, you had to stay inside your dorm until a teacher figured it out and issues you a new one. It was a shitty rule, but I didn't want to get Maria into trouble.

I heard a small quarrel from the direction of the Forest, but I couldn't tell who was involved in it. "Hey, Maria!" I shouted loudly. They quieted down when they heard my voice. "You dropped your pass." I shouted, feeling lame.

A figure in black emerged from the Forest. They kept on running until they were directly in front of me. Only then did I recognise the person.

"Rima Mashiro?" I whispered, almost not believing my eyes._ Her_. That she-demon made me leave Tenshi. I felt a strong wave of hatred for her at that moment, but forcefully pushed it down.

"That's me. What about it?" she asked, topaz eyes on Maria's pass. She was dressed in a skin tight black costume that only Maria could make – I had heard about how many things Maria had won, so it was definitely her work. It looked like a cross between a ninja and a feminine Batman – minus the fake plastic six-pack, utility belt, mask and ninja stars.

"Nothing. Just checking if it was you, that's all." I lied through my teeth - she didn't notice. I didn't like to lie, but there was no _way _that I was telling her that I had seen her in the basement with my angel. I would tell her when it was necessary but as far as I'm concerned, that kid was pure evil. The only thing that made me slightly trust her was the fact that she was wearing one of Maria's costumes. Maria usually kept her costumes mint and untouched after completion. That showed that at least she trusted her.

"Okay. Can I have Maria's pass? She wants to get some materials from out of school, and we want to sneak out to get them. I'm only telling you this because you look remotely trustworthy." she said in a matter-of-fact tone. I almost smirked, _I _am_ rather trustworthy. _She then snatched the pass from out of my hand, running towards the Forest. "See ya Ikuto!"

I didn't retaliate – I somehow knew that the pass was on the right path to get back to its owner. Trust. Even though I hated her, I trusted her just as much. Why was that so? She had an evil aura, but a trustworthy evil aura? I wasn't sure what to think, but I just let it go.

Nagihiko and Kukai rounded the corner a minute later – Nagihiko neatly wheeling a travel bag and Kukai with an armful of junk and...a cereal box?

"More Fruit Loops Kukai? Really?" I laughed, crossing my arms in a mock angry position.

Kukai grinned. His teeth looked like they were glowing in the moonlight. "Don't diss the Fruit Loops, man. I got the marshmallow spray in case of any incidents."

I opened my dorm room for them. Nagi tutted under his breath. "The music sheets have bred since my last visit."

It was true. They littered the floor like a beautiful disease, covering the whole room - except my bed. My couch had a small stack, which Kukai glared at. I only had a huge bedroom, a walk in closet and a bathroom so the paper was almost everywhere.

"Okay...maybe it got a little out of control." I muttered sheepishly. "Just dump your stuff – we need to get down to that meeting."

Nagihiko put his suitcase against the back of the couch while Kukai took my words seriously and dropped his junk where he stood. Typical Kukai. "Dude. Did you hear the riot? Bets on that Tsukasa's having a hard time handling it all."

"No he wouldn't," Nagihiko instantly replied. "Tsukasa's actually really talented at changing people's opinions – surely you've noticed."

"What_ever_." Kukai shot back, walking out the door. He began to laugh, walking outside. I shut the door behind us as we walked towards the school. "I just want to see the Pig's face when Tsukasa tells him that his opinion doesn't matter and that since he's principal, founder and something-else-really-important he's gonna do what he wants anyway."

Nagihiko grinned. "Chances are that that's _exactly _what's going to happen. But knowing Tsukasa, he's going to do it in a way that's going to surprise and piss off a lot of people."

The stars were bright and I found myself tuning out from Kukai and Nagihiko's constant bantering. Even though I knew that things were going down in Tsukasa's office...why did I feel like I had to go to the Forest?

x.x.x.x.x

"BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!" Hiro screamed, knocking over a glass vase. Tsukasa watched with a neutral expression as it fell to the floor, shattering into a thousand irreparable pieces.

"I would certainly hope not." he replied, crossing his legs. Tsukasa was sitting on his desk and his office was so spacious that _Pandemonium_ and _Viridian _could join in with the complaints and there would still be room to spare. Nagihiko, Kukai and I were standing at the back of the crowd, leaning against the wall. Everyone else had seats, but instead of sitting in them they all wanted to cause havoc with them. The guys picked them up like weapons while the girls just kicked them over. All three of us were fine with another student enrolling – we just wanted information, not a riot. "Apart from your inappropriate language, do you have anything else to contribute?"

"Hell yeah – get the new bitch out of our school!" Hiro demanded. We watched as the rest of the Euphoria jeered him on, shaking their chairs and cheering.

Saaya took that moment to jump to Hiro's side. "We all don't want some skank in our school. Every single one of us will give the new kid hell - they will wish that they died instead of crossing us!" A group of five girls then appeared behind her, all nodding in agreement. _A posse?_

Minami stood up with shaky knees. Wakana helped her stay sable while tears streamed down both of their faces. "Why?" she whimpered, gasping for air. "Why make it so hard to get in the school and then give away a position?"

"Alright. That's _enough!_" Tsukasa shouted before the rest of the class decided to give their input. Everyone fell silent; some sitting in their chairs, pretending that they didn't get caught up in the ruckus. "I think that you all misunderstood what this meeting was about. This meeting wasn't about how angry you all are - because let's face it. I don't care."

Hiro threw his chair down. The hard wood splintered and with a sharp crack, it fell apart. "What the fuck! You can't do th-"

"Actually I can." Tsukasa butted in. "This meeting was originally to tell you all about the new changes to Rule #665 - not for you all to get the idea that this is _your _school and that your opinion matters more than mine. It was a foolish move and by now you all should know that violence doesn't solve anything. But since I have seen all of your horrible behaviour I have also come to the conclusion that I have given you all too much freedom. What kind of academy would allow its students to swear at their elders – let alone the school's principal, founder and creator? Because of this, a category rule will be made. Rule #666."

"Rule #666?" Wakana gasped, tightening her hold on her best friend. "That's the devils number!"

"Pure nonsense – it's just the number after six hundred and sixty six." Tsukasa said, brushing off Wakana's negative comment. "Rule #666 will be a category rule, meaning its quite a few rules compacted into one. It's designed to guarantee the safety of the new student. From what I have seen from your general behaviour, you would massacre the new student without a second thought. I was just going to trust you, but that is no longer an option."

Tsukasa paused for a moment to let the new information sink in before continuing. "There will be no violence, swearing or hostility towards the new student. You will treat her equally, like anyone else in your family. Any physical or mental harm that is given to her will be treated like an attack and the attacker will be punished. Seiyo Academy has a zero tolerance against bullying. Punishments will include marks being taken off your report, areas being taken off your pass, detention, isolation – and if worst comes to worst – expulsion. The rest if the school will be aware of this rule by tomorrow. _Au Revoir _– now get out of my office."

We left before everyone else – Hiro and Saaya were having a hard time dealing with the new rule. They were sure to stir up a fight, they looked like they would try anything to neutralize the rule.

The cold air hit our faces like a bucket of ice-cold water, refreshing our senses. Nagihiko pulled us to the side, away from eavesdroppers. "Did you notice that Rima and Maria weren't there?" he muttered, with a frown.

"I bumped into Maria and Rima. They're sneaking out tonight, via Forest." I replied. Kukai and Nagihiko glared at me.

"Oh, uh shit, I forgot to tell you again, didn't I?" I laughed uneasily. I had forgotten that I didn't tell them.

"No shit." Kukai burst out laughing, despite the serious situation but then stopped. "Wait – if evil chick isn't protecting Tenshi, what's stopping us from going down there now?"

We all looked at each other before running towards the main part of school. It was all a blur – my heart was slamming against my ribcage, threatening to get out. Nagihiko ran down the stairs ahead of us, opening the lift for us. Kukai mashed the basement button and snickered at the elevator music. We all grinned – it was the perfect moment to find her. We could talk to her, see if she was okay. And I would...

I would show her that I existed. I would show her how much I cared, how much I wanted to care for her, how much I wanted to make music for her, how badly I just wanted her to _see me for who I was. _

That was why when we rushed towards the hidden room behind the accumulated props, all the air rushed out of me. An empty hospital bed with dust covering every single inch of it. No one had been there for a long time. The room was Tenshi-less, Angel-less. Useless.

Her memory began to live itself before my eyes. Her beautiful fuchsia hair, fanned over the pure white pillow, the way her chest rose in little gasps and pants, her delicate body wrapped in blood soaked bandages and blankets. And her eyes. Her beautiful golden crystalline eyes, hidden behind closed eyelids. I longed to see them, to see her eyes when they saw me in this darkened room. She was so delicate, so unique, so beautiful. She was right there, _right there!_

And I had imagined it all...?

**Please leave a review. If there isn't enough feedback, this story will be neglected.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: To an anomymous reviewer that went by the name as XxXsijver-tiaraXxX : Happy Birthday Sara! Cheer up, and I hope your day grew better as the day went on. I hope this explains a few things, and I hope next time you will log in when you leave a review, along with everyone else out there. I like to be able to thank you all and give you information about the next time the chapter is released. :)** **Enjoy!**

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**APOV:**

_Enemy, familiar friend_

_My beginning and my end_

_Broken truth, whispering lies_

_And it hurts again_

_What I fear and what I try_

_Words I say and what I hide_

_All the pain, I want it to end_

_But I want it again_

_And it finds me_

_The fight inside is coarsing through my veins_

_And it's raging_

_The fight inside is breaking me again_

_It's still the same, pursuing pain_

_Isn't worth the lie I've gained_

_We both know how it will end_

_But I do it again _

_Nothing and Everything, Red_

Emotions are beautiful, enchanting in its mysterious ways – yet humans take them for granted. Ultimately, they are the thing that makes us feel superior to other animals. We can perform mercy once we feel sorrow for another, we can hurt or inflict pain on an individual if they make us angry, and we can fight for what we believe in out of love.

Why live without emotions? They make us who we are, they make us feel _alive_. Without emotions you wouldn't have an opinion. Emotions make you feel a strong dislike towards some things while it can spark the complete opposite feeling about something else. They create the distance between humans and robots, the real and the fake.

Not predicting something properly and feeling genuine surprise was one emotion that I was unfamiliar with. Walking around on busy streets, I was always on-guard. I feared that if someone became close to me, they would be hurt because of me. Besides, who wants to know a stray?

A stray child, roaming the world like they owned it. That was me, and I absolutely loved it. I made music and relished in my own freedom - that was all I cared about. Money was just a bonus. I didn't need friends and they didn't need me. I wanted to keep playing music for others, so I stayed on the run. Anger, sadness, happiness, confusion – those were some basic emotions that I treasured.

Unfortunately I had only experienced the basics. Almost all the others were strangers; hidden inside me, waiting to be awoken from their lifelong sleep. In books and novels alike, the characters are so complex. They burst at the seams with emotions – love, depression, hatred, pure joy. One moment sulking, the next getting it on with the love of their life.

Watching life pass by me was something amazing. It was a singularly exceptional experience that only I seemed to be able to appreciate. I could sit on the corner of a busy street for hours on end and never be bored. All those different people were crossing paths several times a day, unaware of who they were passing. They never noticed me either – not unless I was making magic.

So after learning that, I decided to take that knowledge in and act on it. I started to play more often and at a certain time. I began to know some regulars and became more acquainted with the native humans in the city.

From that knowledge, I became rather sad. But I was also grateful that I knew, but the cold reality of life shook me deeply.

No one will notice you, unless you make yourself noticed. No one will remember you if you have nothing particularly outstanding about yourself. So I made music to let myself acknowledged in all their lives. To the kind people that asked, I was Luna Frost – the girl who devoted herself to music.

And I knew that somewhere, deep inside my soul, I told them that to make a mark of my existence. I did that to make myself known to the world in a discreet manner. I did it to mark where I was, so if someone took me away, they would miss my short appearances in their life.

Because no one else would.

x.x.x.x.x

I watched, leaning against the wall, as Maria and Rima both came back inside my basement room with a plastic bag. Even though the bag was huge, Rima was just carrying it with one hand and Maria was making sure it didn't get any holes poked into it.

Before I had the chance to open my mouth and inquire about the garbage bag, Maria spoke to me. "Don't ask. Watch."

Rima snorted, dropping the bag onto my hospital bed and stared Maria down. "That's stupid. You give stupid advice. Don't ever give me stupid advice." she then turned to me, a small smile gracing her face. "This bag is full of charcoal from the Art Department, finely ground magnetised metal shavings from the Science Department and a whole bunch of gunk we found in the heating system. Added to that, is the most rank smelling paint known to mankind. While solid, the fumes could make anyone within ten meters of it high, thus why it's banned in over seventy different countries."

"I think that I would appreciate the gesture more if I knew what that...curious collection of unrelated items were for." I said, lightly touching my stomach wound with my fingertips. While they had left to get all those items, I had tested my body's limits. I could walk, but as Rima had said, under no circumstance was I to run.

"_Takumi was ordered to make your puncture wound larger. When you were given to him, it was just a little hole, spurting blood like a miniature stream. Now it extends to about 34cm. Takumi ripped your stomach open to immobilise you as a favour to Tsukasa. You can stretch, move around and do slow stuff like that...but running? You're not ready. By doing so, you would effectively rip the hole in your chest even further open, destroying the stitches I have given you. It would be incredibly dangerous if I wasn't there to patch you up – I mean, you would be creating a porthole for your whole internal organs to fall out of. Not a cool way to die by just craving a little jog."_

"Oh, right. When we leave to transport you to Maria's room we will need to sabotage the area." Rima stated with an evil grin.

"I _do _like sabotaging..." Maria said darkly, double checking to make sure the plastic bag had no holes in it. _If this bag of illegal paint is discovered by the wrong crowd, the fools will be stoned in here for weeks. Wouldn't they be hurt after that amount of overexposure? _After looking at Maria and Rima's expressions I resolved that neither of them cared that much.

Rima nodded and continued on with her explanation. "So there are quite a few different ways to do this. The possibilities are almost endless. We could burn the room, smash everything inside it, remove everything, fill it with junk from the outer room, etcetera. But by doing that kind of thing we would be alerting the intruder to the fact that we _were _here, and that we had something to hide. Instead, we're going to throw them off our track by making it seem that we were never here."

Meaning that they wanted to hide my existence from the world – just like Tsukasa.

I nodded and walked off, uninterested and almost disgusted. Even though they were trying to help me, I felt that I didn't need it. Whoever it was that visited me had made me feel safe. Warm even. Like a thousand caged butterflies were inside me, making my soul ignite. As if I was floating in a dream. I didn't need them to get rid of the 'enemy' because they had 'infiltrated the area'. The feeling I had gotten from the stranger was still making my spine shiver in excitement. Somehow I knew that person. That person was definitely not an enemy. How could someone like that, who made me feel so warm inside, _possibly_ be an enemy?

I heard a huge blast and the smell of burning plastic hit my senses like a fist to the face. Distantly I saw Maria and Rima walk out of the back room, smiling in triumph while covering their noses and mouths with their hands. My mind registered that _Phase One: Part One - Get to the Forest_ was beginning and we were going to leave this area forever.

But I actually didn't care about all that. That was only place that a supposed enemy had made me feel safe, the only place that had made me feel happy. And they had _sabotaged it_. I wanted to cry, break something and scream until no sound came out. But instead I lingered in the feeling that my stranger had given me.

So warm, so beautiful.

If anything the intruder should have been given permission to see me again, instead of being tricked into forgetting my existence.

If anything I should have been told to stay and find out who the supposed enemy was, instead of running away like I always did.

If anything I should have woken up earlier and found out the identity of my mysterious visitor, instead of pondering about whom the person was and why they made me feel so warm and happy.

But...why did I care so much?

x.x.x.x.x

A cold wind rustled through the dense leaves, causing an equally cold shiver to crawl up my spine. Seiyo's Forest wasn't a nice place to be at night – somehow it made snow feel like warm weather. I was freshly half-high from all the painkillers they stuffed into me before we left, but I guess that was okay. They didn't want me to be in pain, and I didn't want to make them concerned.

Rima was sitting under a nearby tree, crouching down and doing up her shoelaces. I noticed that she took ages doing it – she would tie them into knots, clearly not understanding the whole concept of tying a bow. I shuffled towards her, pulling my hands out of my pockets and swiftly tying them into a neat bow.

"Hey, you didn't have to, but thank you." Rima murmured, smiling at me. I brushed her affectionate gesture away by shrugging my shoulders and shoving my frozen fingers back into my jacket pocket.

I took a step back and stared at her with cold eyes. "I know."

Rima smiled again, this time forcing it onto her face. "Maria will be back in a few minutes. She's just scouting the area around her dorm, making sure that everyone is gone. That way we won't have any nasty surprises." She then crept to the edge of the forest, peering through the dense bushes. She used the binoculars, since I refused to use them. "See? We can see her right there."

And Rima was right. I could clearly see Maria walking across the campus, her raven hair swaying in the soft breeze. She was walking casually across a stone path until she suddenly ducked behind a wall. I was about to inquire about her sudden movement when Rima pulled out a walkie talkie.

"_Phase One, Part Two - Scouting is complete. No problems arose. It appears that everyone is at the meeting. Initiating Phase One, Part Three - Returning back to Forest. Over." _Maria's soft voice came out of the walkie talkie loud and crackly, horribly jumbling up the way she actually spoke.

Rima put the walkie talkie towards her mouth, as if she was talking to it. "Good job Maria. Are you sure that everyone is at the meeting? Over."

A corrupted crackly laugh resounded from the piece of plastic. _"Of course. I told Hiro and Saaya about it and how they might be able to stop the new kid from getting in. They went off to make sure everyone from Euphoria would go to the meeting. Such bullies – no one will disobey the rich kids. Over."_

"Excellent work. A little bit evil, but that's okay. Initiate Phase One: Part Three. Over." Rima replied, turning off the walkie talkie and looking at me. "Come on – we need to move to the meeting point."

We shuffled back about fifty steps, stopping when Rima thought we were in the so called 'meeting point'. We stood in silence before Rima suddenly went stiff.

"Something's wrong." she blurted and ran towards the tree line. I followed, walking instead of running. Crouching next to her, I was rewarded with hearing her swear like a sailor.

Rima broke out of her unintelligible cussing for a second to say something that actually made sense. "What the _hell_ is she doing?"

Maria had stopped and turned around, successfully blocking our view of her face. Suddenly she began shouting, her words reaching our ears. "I thought you would be at the _meeting!_"

She was talking to a figure, masked by the shadows. Suddenly, I felt the urge to run towards the figure and...what? I pushed that thought aside and focused on the task. I would _not _create a fuss just because of common curiosity. If it was common curiosity, that is. I had to stay invisible, after all, so it was just out of the question to just pop up and say 'Hi!' to a complete stranger. _Stupid, you're being stupid. Stop being so stupid, stupid!_

"Oh shit." Rima muttered, covering her face with her tiny hands. I blinked and the next thing I knew she was curled up, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees with her hair covering her face. _Huh? A ball? _ "Plan failed, plan failed...the plan actually failed..."

"Shut up!" I growled, lightly slapping the back of her head. Rima froze, her amber eyes staring at me in shock. I felt bad for lashing out at her, but I pinned the violence to the fact that I was half-high on painkillers. Her fault, not mine. "Snap out of it and get your stuff together. Just _relax. _Shit, it's not the end of the world or anything."

Rima nodded and sprung back into action. "Of course not. I was just testing you, that's all. Just testing. That's just what I do, you know. Me, Rima Mashiro. I test people. Uh, so...lets continue watching Maria so that I can...test her?"

I ignored Rima's babbling and saw Maria begin to run towards us. Actually, she wasn't running. She was sprinting as if her life depended on it.

She burst through the foliage, face struck with horror. "Rima! Oh my god, Rim-"

For one second I blinked. The next, Maria was face down on the grassy earth, not moving at all.

"Did she just...?" Rima asked, staring at Maria's unmoving form in shock. I nudged her in the face with my foot. Definitely unconscious.

I almost laughed. "Oh, yeah. She did."

Rima crouched down, carefully turning Maria's face towards her. She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and began to dab carefully around the raven haired girl's hairline. "Ugh, great. She's bleeding."

"Bleeding?" I whispered, feeling my stomach turn itself inside out. I took a step back, stumbling over my own feet and tumbling to the ground.

_A crimson river, escaping from my shoulder at a rapid pace. A blood stained pair of left handed scissors clutched in my hands. A white room, untainted from the worlds maladies. White walls, white carpet, white clothes. Everything seen by the eyes was white, covered in dust. A forgotten father, leaving the world of the living for the dead. _

Dead. He was dead.

My father had been rotting in the earth for over three years, slowly decomposing while I spent my time running away from one of his most trusted friends. For over three years he had been dead, stuck in a hole in the ground, while his daughter was unaware of his demise. But what if he _wasn't _stuck in a coffin? What if he was burnt and his ashes stored in an urn? Stored in a wall full or other dead people? Burnt and had his ashes found the birth of a rose in a graveyard? For all I knew, he was covered in freaking wax, stuck in the Hinamori Mansion's basement! Did we even have a basement? I wouldn't know that, since I was basically confined to three rooms.

And who went to his funeral? Who spoke there? Who consoled other people who spoke and consoled other people? Did someone even _need _consoling at his funeral? Did someone hate my father? Did someone _plot his death?_

I felt a thousand irrelevant questions bubble up to my lips before my whole world spun wildly and bent inwards, consuming everything into darkness.

x.x.x.x.x

"GO AWAY!" I screamed, lashing out at invisible demons that only I could see. I heard a small giggle and opened my eyes to see Rima muffling her laughter with her jumper sleeve.

"I swear, you must have the most _messed up _dreams in the history of the universe. If it wasn't a serious danger to your health I would advise you to sleep half-high more often." She cackled, jumping over to sit on the bed that I was sleeping on. I sighed in defeat, flopping onto my back and ignoring the stab of pain that came from my center of gravity. _Stupid sleep talking..._"You kept screaming at me to pass you the broccoli sauce, and when I said that I didn't have any you said that I was a crustacean, which I now feel that I have to verify to you that I am indeed _not_."

"I do believe the exact words were 'perverted lobster with anger issues.'" Maria piped up in a monotone. She was in the other room, but we could hear the defined sounds of a sewing machine clicking away along with the radio softly playing in the background. It sounded like a home. A home that wasn't mine.

"Mmm, that sounds just about right – and that was only one time that you shouted out stupid stuff. You should have heard yourself the other times. Amu, Amu, Amu. What on _Earth_ does your mind get up to while you sleep?" Rima mocked, lightly tapping my nose. Her hand retreated in a flash when my teeth snapped at her dainty fingertips, threatening amputation.

"None of your business, that's what." I growled, shoving a pillow over my face. I was rewarded with no smart-ass comments from the two humans in the room. It was the closest thing to victory that I would get. "What time is it?"

"Morning, genius." Rima stated, flinging my pillow away from my clutches. She then, to my extreme horror, turned on a pocket sized flashlight and shone it in my eyes. "We can't open the blinds, due to the fact that no one is allowed to know that me or you are here so this is the best we have compared to pure sunlight." She explained, sounding proud of what she was doing. It was hard not to notice how happy Rima was. I had a theory that it was because we had successfully moved areas...I think. _Did _we successfully move areas? I wasn't too sure. I mean, we had gotten to the destination, but was it to plan?

"Sunlights overrated." I groaned, pulling my sheets over my face in a vain attempt to get away from the bright light. The sheets smelt like baby powder. _Better than lilacs and fabric softener._

"This is a flashlight, not sunlight." Rima grumbled, not liking the fact that I ignored her ingenious way of awakening me.

"Artificial sunlight is equally as overrated as the real thing."

Rima scowled and got off her ass to go to the other side of the room. She then sat on the mini fridge, while grabbing herself a cold pot of coffee and pouring herself another cup. I assumed it was another cup because it had small cocoa coloured lip marks around the rim. "Want some?" She offered, raising the pot up slightly.

I snorted. "_You_ want _me_ to drink caffeine? Just to make me feel like running around? No thanks."

We all sat in silence, Rima occasionally making a noise while sipping her coffee. I took that moment to speak softly to her. "Hey, Rima. What happened last night?"

She took a long time to swallow her coffee before answering. "A disaster of astronomical proportions. Nothing much, really."

"You will tell me what happened." I commanded, glaring across the room. "I...I can't really remember." I said truthfully, faltering in my speech. Every time I tried to remember what happened I just made myself feel emotionally sick, like I wanted to vomit – but Rima didn't need to know that much. I wanted her to feel happy for as long as possible, without having to care for me like a child.

"Well, you had a panic attack...I think." Rima said, more to herself than to me. It was as if she was just musing aloud, happy that someone was listening. "Maria fell on her face and knocked herself out and when I pointed out that she was bleeding you had a panic attack. I think the blood triggered it, but then again it could have been the atmosphere. I mean, who chills in a forest at night anyway? But then again, you were drugged up on painkillers...is twenty four capsules of heavy duty aspirin too much for a brutally wounded teenager?"

Maria walked into the room, holding a bag of potato chips. There was a small bandage on her forehead, but it was craftily worn like it was supposed to be there as an accessory. Badges supporting women's rights and gay marriage were pinned to the bandage, making it look even more like it was supposed to be there, instead of covering a nasty cut. "After that, Rima poured water on me from her drink bottle, forcefully waking me up since she didn't want to be all alone in the forest with two unconscious people. She's _such_ a baby."

"I did _not_ and I am _not_." Rima huffed, sending a murderous gaze to Maria, who didn't notice the hostile action at all.

"But anyway, I rushed in and fell over because the plan was compromised. My neighbour was moving his friends into his apartment because their dorm door broke or something." Maria said, sitting on the floor and continuing to munch on her food.

"Then this goose," Rima said, pointing at Maria. "Dropped her pass near him when she ran away from him. Since the goose wasn't able to run or even be seen with blood all over her face, I had to go and get it for her. Then we waited for him, soccer boy and cross dresser to go to the meeting. When they did, we carried you here and listened to you speak gibberish – which you do quite nicely, I must say."

"I _do _like gibberish..." Maria trailed off, staring at a potato chip that she had been holding for a while. "This looks like... Saaya."

"Huh?" Rima blurted, looking confused before she caught onto what Maria was talking about. "Oh, I have _got _to see this..." she muttered, hopping over and joining in on the potato chip staring contest. After a while she snapped a picture of it on her phone, laughing as Maria ate it. I had no idea who this Saaya chick was, and I had no desire to find out.

"Amu. I finished your uniform." Maria said while pointing to the room she had been using the sewing machine in. "I took the liberty to attach your lock to the chains on the skirt. The chain snapped after it got snagged on a branch, but I reused the chain for the skirt. It's a good design – punk yet cute. Awesome altogether, really. Do you mind if I take pictures of you in it for my portfolio?" she asked, eyes shining in the artificial light.

"Thanks. And, no I don't mind." I muttered before closing my eyes and listening to Rima and Maria jabber on in hushed tones.

I almost couldn't believe my own luck. I was in a room full of humans that cared about my welfare. They cared about keeping me safe from the rest of the school (and if that included Tsukasa, I was all for it), they were considerate about my personal belongings and they were trying to be my friends. I had never felt this safe in a foreign environment, but somehow those two individuals made it worthwhile.

I rolled on my side, feeling pain cut into me. I deserved the pain though, and pushed down harder. Guilt began to fill my mind. Guilt for when I would leave these two people that had become my friends, just to run away from a man that I didn't like. Guilt for when they would realise that I had abandoned them for loneliness.

And I knew that I would follow through with it, because that was just the type of person that I was. I lived to survive and thrived on freedom. It was a drug and I was addicted to it. I would definitely escape and run away, leaving this place far away from me.

Seiyo Academy holds nothing that would want me to stay.

Not even a potential home with friends could change my mind.

**Please leave a review. If there isn't enough feedback, this story will be neglected.**


	7. Chapter 7

*Stretches fingers and sighs* Unrequited love has inspired this chapter. Hope you all enjoy and drop me some delicious feedback ;)

**Warning - this chapter includes swearing.**

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**IPOV:**

_I don't remember one moment I tried to forget_

_I lost myself yet I'm better not sad_

_Now I'm closer to the edge_

_It was a thousand to one and a million to two_

_Time to go down in flames and I'm taking you_

_Closer to the edge_

_No I'm not saying I'm sorry_

_One day, maybe we'll meet again_

_No I'm not saying I'm sorry_

_One day, maybe we'll meet again_

_No, no, no, no_

_Closer to the Edge, 30 Seconds to Mars_

Dreams are a curious existence. They are the essence of our subconscious, the realm of pure imagination. Some say that, essentially, dreams are the time that our mind wanders freely, showing us glimpses of what we truly think about. Others say that it's our intuition, delving into our own emotions. Humanity has even gone as far to call sleep 'The Cousin of Death', since our spirit wanders as free as it would in dreams as it would in death.

But for myself, dreams were always simple. I never needed to ponder such things. I had 'The Sight'. Dreams told me the future and the past, showing me the things that would assist me later. This was the knowledge that I had discovered from a book in my family's library - The Tsukiyomi Diary.

At first I thought the title was _way_ too feminine. I mean, why not call it something more serious, like a Journal? But soon after I opened its yellowed pages and skimmed over its knowledge I forgot all about my childish prejudice against the feminine title and was stunned. Inside that book, were all the secrets that my family had to hide, and the truth about my night terrors.

My night terrors were far from nightmares and were actually an form of an ability that my bloodline had, called 'The Sight'. My great grandfather was able to see what you wanted the most in the world. My grandmother had the ability to see your soul mate. My father was able to see your death upon contact. I was able to see the past and future.

Never in my life had anything made more sense in that moment when I realised that I wasn't some kind of once-in-a-lifetime freak with dreams that came true. The visions that haunted my resting soul were not a fluke. It wasn't an abnormality at all, and it was painfully real.

It was genetic.

And it wasn't going away.

x.x.x.x.x

I could feel the hate bubbling in my veins. I could feel it streaming the hatred into my mind, burning rational thought to a pathetic smouldering crisp of nothingness. I hated hating things, and I hated hate in general. I hated the fact that I had become a human that hated everything, when there was so much to live for. But that wasn't what I was hating in this exact moment of time. My fists clenched together, knuckles cracking. I may hate life, but life wasn't as bad as this.

You know what I hated the most?

I hated my mini fridge.

Every time I opened it, all of its contents decide to lurch forward, scattering onto the floor like projectile vomit, refrigerator style. And that was exactly what I had just done. I had opened the chamber of organised expensive edible objects and had been rewarded with an inedible mass of broken fail. I wasn't even hungry – there was just something about checking the contents of a fridge, even if you knew for a fact that the contents hadn't changed in the slightest. It was a massive pile of food, the drinks creating a revolting moat around it. Castle Fail, Ikuto style. Castle Fail was two month's worth of food, gone. _Gone. _

_Just like her._

"Chill dude, it's just food. Nothing that we can't sneak out and get tomorrow. There's still chips in the cupboard. You'll survive." Kukai rationalized, smashing the buttons on his remote. He was trying to play Mortal Combat upside down and so far, he was succeeding. I faintly heard a female let out a bloodcurdling scream, while a manly voice shouted "_Fatality!" _followed by Kukai whooping in delight.

"I'll survive, but you won't." I muttered, a malicious grin creeping over my face. "The chocolate milk is a part of this pile of Castle Fail."

"Castle Fail?" He laughed, before my words processed through his mind and the consequences caught up to him. He dropped the remote and whipped his head around to survey the mess. He fell to his knees, at the base of the moat in defeat. "My life is _over._" he whispered in horror.

"_Fatality." _I mocked, before walking away sadly into the darkness of my room. I collapsed into my bed, before mentally berating myself for making Kukai miserable. The anger in my body slowly subsided, hatred replacing itself with bitter and lonely misery.

Tenshi was gone. She never existed.

In the basement, there was a room that used to be a huge supply closet. That was where I thought Tenshi was. That was where Kukai, Nagi and I had sprinted off to, excited that we would finally be able to meet Tenshi. That was where we were faced with a roadblock of astronomic proportions. That was where there really was an inch of dust coating every surface, and a massive puddle of paint.

The paint was reeking of toxic fumes, it was almost chloroform worthy.

I had most likely knocked the can over in my daze.

I had been high.

High on Tenshi.

Tenshi wasn't real – I had hallucinated. I had hallucinated about her being alive, I had hallucinated about her being in Seiyo, I had hallucinated about her existence in this world. I had lied to my own existence, trading the truth for a more favourable future. A future that didn't exist. And what was I doing about my mistake? I was being bitter, harming the people I cared about.

But the thing that got me was the mere fact that I didn't _care _that I was upsetting them. They would get over it. They would move on – Kukai would buy more chocolate milk and Nagihiko would find another mystery to unravel. They wouldn't think of her the way that I do and they wouldn't spend their time being regretful. But I would be the same, eyes blinded by the shooting star that was Tenshi.

I held an arm around my stomach, to keep myself together. There was this feeling of emptiness inside me. It was like the fires that Tenshi had stirred up had incinerated my insides, leaving me cold and empty without her. I would happily die than feel the icy cold emptiness take my soul over, splintering warm hope into a thousand irreparable pieces.

But then I wouldn't know what had happened, and I just couldn't deal with that. I needed to know where she was, who she was and more importantly, _what she was. _Death could wait, I had found a higher priority than eternal peace.

A flicker of light appeared out of the corner of my eye. I heard the scrunching of paper and a frustrated sigh. I got off my ass and opened my closet to reveal Nagihiko. He was crouching on all of my once hung-up and perfectly ironed clothes, while staring at the white wall. I wanted to say something about how I didn't appreciate him destroying all of Utau's work since she had spent hours organising and categorizing my clothes, but oddly enough I liked the change. There was something about the emptiness in the closet, the calm chaos. I sat next to him, feeling the clothing flatten under my weight.

"I was wondering where you slunk off to." I mused aloud, looking sideways at Nagihiko. He had a puzzled expression on his face, masking all other emotions.

"Well, I guess you found out, huh." he muttered before quickly drawing something in thin air with his finger for a few rapid seconds. Then he stopped, finger frozen in mid air. He flopped onto his back, blowing air out of his mouth noisily. "It doesn't make sense."

"Nothing in this world does." I replied, throwing a nearby shirt at the wall. "And for all I know, it never will."

"Don't be stupid. It's just..." he waved his hands around in frustration. He gritted his teeth, before dropping his hands to his sides. "_This._"

"My friend, we are both on the same page." I replied, running a hand loosely through my azure hair.

"No, I don't think we are. You are mentally defeated, accepting that Tenshi _probably _doesn't exist. Everything has an answer: math, science, algebra... So why not this? But the thing is that what we saw tonight didn't make a lick of sense."

"Lick of sense? Really Nagi? That sounds disgusting." I mocked, trying to evade the subject. I didn't _want _to hear about Tenshi, I didn't want to know the truth about her. Because there was a huge chance that it won't be the one that I'm looking for and I think something like that would kill me.

Nagihiko snorted, before tying his hair up with a wristband. "Ha, ha. Very funny. But think about it: there was paint spilt on the floor, correct? And it was spilt from under the bed. The room looked like it hadn't been touched in at least a thousand years, but there was clearly fresh paint on the floor."

"Someone had been there recently, if it wasn't me." I muttered. "But you could be wrong. Tenshi might not exist."

"That's just a risk we are going to have to take." Nagihiko replied, with a coy grin. Immediately he was content with his theory. I could see the Nagihiko-style cogs working in his brain, linking one possibility to the next. "We should go back down there, as soon as possible."

"I don't think that's a good idea." I don't want to go. I don't think I want to risk knowing that she doesn't exist. I don't think I want to find out that she's not real. I don't think I want to find out that she's just a figment of my imagination. I don't want to have my life turned upside down again, for nothing.

Nagi grinned before batting his eyelashes like a girl. "Man up fucktard." he sang in a ridiculously feminine tone and waving his long purple hair around in a mock-seductive way. I would have laughed. He then winked playfully before getting up off his ass. "I'm going to see how Kukai's going. I think I heard him crying before." his voice went back to normal, and with that he walked out of the closet. But before he left, he paused in the closets doorway.

"Ikuto, I'm going down there tonight. With or without you."

I didn't give him eye contact as he left, shutting the door behind him. Darkness engulfed the closet space, suddenly making me feel childishly afraid. I wondered briefly if that was how Tenshi would have felt if she had awoken in the basement, all alone and injured. Would Rima Mashiro assist her and treat her well, if Rima Mashiro was even there in the first place? Would Tenshi even accept the assistance of Rima Mashiro, a complete stranger who has a strangely evil aura which is somehow trustworthy at the same time?

I groaned, before punching the wall with my fist. I could make up scenarios starring Tenshi all day, but all I was succeeding in was stalling. Nagihiko hadn't given me a decision; he had told me what he was doing. And I already knew my answer, and he knew my answer before I had decided upon it. He had made me curious, enticing me back to the depths of the school to perform amateur detective work – the exact kind of thing that Nagihiko enjoyed.

I felt a chill, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. As much as I wanted to see her again, I didn't know for certain that I would come out as unscathed next time. This time, I just became depressed, briefly considering suicide.

If I found out she didn't exist, what would happen then?

x.x.x.x.x

"Curiosity killed the cat," Kukai mused aloud, haphazardly taking pictures on his iPhone with one hand, not caring what he took photos of. "But what brought it back?"

"What are you trying to say?" I growled, sending my best glare at Kukai who didn't notice a thing.

"Kukai, that was almost poetic. Maybe Philosophy classes have impacted on your state of mind after all." Nagi chuckled, picking up a strip of plastic with the words _Do Not Enter _printed all over it in yellow and black. He quickly wrapped it up and shoved it in his pocket. That was the plastic that I had taken down less than twenty four hours ago, but apart from us three, no one else in the world knew that Ikuto Tsukiyomi had breached Seiyo Academy rules, and had make an utter fool of himself in the process.

"Then the internet has been impacted, not me." Kukai retorted, snapping a picture of Nagihiko's raised eyebrows and unamused expression. Kukai stopped taking pictures and stared at him with a grin. "Get it? The internet has been impacted, because I got it from the internet? I wasn't impacted? Do you get it now?"

"Explaining a joke that wasn't funny in the first place does _not _make it funnier." Nagihiko stated while smirking, patting Kukai on the shoulder before entering the lift. I followed and Kukai trailed after me, silently fuming with a predatory grin.

The badly recorded elevator music began to play. Once I had found that music relieving, almost unrealistically appropriate. Now I found the opera music eerie, and I itched to be able to turn it off somehow, but as it was not an option, I just ignored it and pressed the button that would take us down to the basement. It felt like eternity before the doors opened again, revealing darkness.

Almost in synchronisation, we all pulled out large black flashlights out of our blazers and turned them all on at the same time. The light shone like beams, vanquishing the darkness in the icy abyss in front of us. I felt my lips twist themselves into a smirk; it was hard to be serious when something awesome like that happens in a fluke. I quickly wiped the smirk off my face, feeling misery pour down on my shoulders. Tenshi could have been here, I couldn't be screwing around if I had a chance of finding out more. Full concentration was needed, and I was more than ready to give her my full attention.

"When did our school ever need a cardboard cut-out of Optimus Prime?" Kukai asked slowly, shining his torch at a far away corner. Surely enough, Optimus Prime was there, standing in his robotic cardboard glory in a battle stance, next to a giant martini glass full of fish.

"Megatron's out there Kukai, you might want to watch your words..." I replied, feeling a smirk creep onto my face. That smirk almost twitched itself into a smile before I bit the inside of my cheek, drawing blood. I don't like to smile, especially when Tenshi may or may not exist in this world. This was no time for joy, it was the most serious moment of my life. She was what I wanted to find, and her existence was the only thing I needed.

We weaved our way towards the back room, through the piles of props. To some the piles looked like junk, others treasure. It was almost like a Garage Sale, but unattended by humans and to the extreme. When we finally arrived at the door, I reached over and quickly opened it. Nagihiko raised an eyebrow at me, almost as if he was asking me if I was okay to continue. _Me, want to stop? I'm fucking Ikuto Tsukiyomi; nothing's going to stop me – let alone a fucking door_.

Kukai flicked the light switch and a light bulb flickered to life, throwing artificial light over the room. Immediately the smell of paint fumes hit us like a brick, causing us to stumble back a few steps. Nagihiko quickly passed around gas masks. "These will not remove the smell, but the fumes won't affect us, so it's our best chance at checking this room out." he explained, before pulling his own on and nodding to himself. He then strode confidently back into the room, Kukai by his side chatting enthusiastic about his next soccer match against a rival school.

I stood outside the threshold, heart pounding. This was where I had last seen her, where I had lied to myself about her existence. I could see Nagihiko and Kukai staring critically at the hospital bed, eyeing the ridiculous amount of dust that lingered on its surface. It didn't take a genius to know that they were doubting that she had been there. But she had, I could feel it in my bones, the firm grasp of confidence. I took a deep breath – _Do it for Tenshi, do it for Tenshi _– and stepped into the room, pretending that all was right in the world and that I wasn't falling apart at the seams.

"Ikuto, come here." Nagihiko called, waving me over to the dust coated hospital bed. I strode over, shoving my hands in my blazer pockets. He was peering under the hospital bed, rolling his sleeves up. "Where was Tenshi in this room?"

"On the bed, asleep." _And bleeding profusely under the bandage that was wrapped around her torso, while sweating and being in pain, but you don't need to know that, do you?_

"There's no dint in the mattress where she could have been sleeping," Kukai pointed out, before turning around and looking at various other objects in the room.

Nagihiko quickly checked the mattress before looking under the bed again. "That's true, but look at the mattress. It's as hard as a brick – there wouldn't be a dint even if she didn't move for a year. The original bucket is under the bed, it must have been masked by the shadows the first time we were here."

There was silence as they searched through the room, the occasional snap from Kukai's iPhone. I just stood there, uselessly staring at the bed upon which she laid.

It hurt to be in there. The loss was almost suffocating, and the regret was tying my stomach in knots. I could have reached forward with my hand, lightly shook her shoulder and woken her... but then what? Confess that I had been watching her sleep for about twenty minutes, while stashing pink pom poms in my blazer? Inform her that she had starred in my dream? Inquire about why her stomach was bleeding like a river, and why she – probably – wasn't wearing anything but a blood soaked bandage?

No, I wouldn't have done any of those. I was at an impasse, and I didn't know which way to go. Either road was unsettling, but they were the only roads available.

I heard a small rustling from under the bed. Bending over, I looked under the bed to see Nagihiko dip an ear bud swab in the paint and place it in a small container. "Nagi, that paint is illegal. I strongly suggest that you don't plant that stuff anywhere." I cautioned, feeling like an ass. Usually I would never warn someone about that kind of stuff. Nagihiko could do whatever he wanted with the paint, and would probably turn it into a prank of some sort, but for some reason I didn't want anyone else hallucinating – no matter how funny it may become. If someone else hallucinated about something so life changing, just to find out it wasn't so, I would be pissed. No one deserved that.

"I'm just sampling – a friend of mine can help us track down where this stuff came from and possibly who this paint belongs to." Nagihiko explained, while carefully placing the small container in his pocket while chuckling to himself and scooping up a larger portion and spooning the paint into a separate container. "Besides, he'll probably want a bit of it as payment."

"That'd be right. The kid's always trying to prove that brain always beats brawn...or something like that." Kukai laughed, while picking up an inflatable donut, covered in dust. He closely inspected it, before taking a picture and carelessly tossing it behind him.

I figured that I may as well do something to move the search along instead of standing in the middle of the room like a goose. There was a pillow in the corner that I had seen Rima Mashiro around when I had seen Tenshi last. I could have sworn Rima was on a separate bed in the corner, but a pillow was all that remained now. I reached out to touch the pillow, but before I touched it a few chunks of dust suddenly flew off the surface and clung to the metal crosses on my sleeve. I tried to brush it off, but the dust didn't seem to budge. After close inspection I saw that the dust wasn't dust at all, but the tell-tale silvery granules told me that it was in fact magnetised metal shavings.

I quickly called Nagihiko over and told him about my discovery. He nodded to himself, before possibly grinning inside his gasmask. "So the dust_ is _fake. I wonder how they managed to spread it all over the place, it looked so real..." he mused, before setting off to look under the bed again. I nodded, before deciding to see what Kukai was up to since I had no interest in hanging out under a hospital bed for the rest of the day.

I turned around to find Kukai standing on a bookshelf, shining his torch down a central heating duct. "Ikuto, I need some assistance."

I quickly clambered up the unit, feeling the ground rush away from me as I padded up the shelves at lightning speed. Within seconds I was sitting next to Kukai, examining the duct with my own torch. I smirked, I hadn't broken a sweat. I briefly wondered if Tenshi would swoon at something like that, but pushed that thought aside. "What's wrong with it?" I muttered, trying to look inside the metal chamber.

"It smells like burnt plastic, and a bit of smoke was coming out of it a few minutes ago. Suspicious, eh?" Kukai grinned, while handing me his torch to hold at the metal grill. "It's also really weird how the dust only coats the top of everything, not the entirety of every object in the room. And it comes of really easy too - I _peeled _dust from a silver tomato. That kind of stuff just isn't natural."

"There's magnetised metal shavings in the almost-dust." I said halfway through a yawn. I needed to sleep, but I honestly couldn't rest peacefully before figuring out what had happened in this room.

"That's weird." Kukai snorted, before using a hubcap to wedge the grill off the wall. Dust puffed outwards, and we both waited for it to settle before staring in disbelief.

"No,_ that's_ weird." I murmured, before calling over my shoulder. "Nagi, get over here."

Inside the chamber was an exploded garbage bag and the remnants of a lighter. The same paint that was spilt under the bed was pooled around the mess and was clearly sticking the grill to the chamber like glue. A miniature fan was behind the mess, still silently rattling on in an attempt to keep on spreading the false dust out of the grill.

Nagihiko crouched next to us on the bookshelf. The shelf wobbled a bit but stayed vertical and stable. "I sense fowl play," he said, before digging around in his pocket. "Check this out."

A small white plastic clip was in his hand, still humming softly. A small red light was flashing on it, almost acting as a beacon for us to find it.

"Hey, those are monitoring clips." Kukai said, frowning through his mask. "When I went to the hospital to see Kaidou after a liver transplant, he had one on his index finger and it looked _exactly _like that. Do you think since she was asleep, that something could have been wrong with her? The bandages – it makes sense."

I looked across the room, and quickly spotted a smashed heartbeat monitor. "There's the monitor." I said, pointing towards it.

Nagihiko stood up, glaring down at the rest of the room. Kukai sat on the edge, eyes searching for any other evidence that we could have missed. And I just gazed at the bed, where I now knew for certain that she existed. The bookshelf threatened to fall from our weight on one side, but stabilized itself quickly.

"She was here." I whispered softly, almost uncertain that I had actually said it at all.

"She was." Nagihiko verified, smiling softly to himself. "Ikuto, you were right. She does exist, and she was here."

"She can't be that far from here," Kukai chuckled. "It's pretty hard to get away from Seiyo once you get in, 'specially in her condition too."

And in that exact moment, all of my dreams were picked off the floor and bandaged. The once irreparable hopes of seeing her were quickly mended, brand new once more. A fire lit itself inside of me, spreading like wildfire. The world looked so unique, so different from the one that I had seen less than an hour ago. Despair fleeted from my blood and a thirst for mystery was born.

I smirked to myself, the corners of my lips threatening to smile. I had found a new definition for a dream. A dream is what you want to achieve, what you want the most in your future.

And since it was impossible for her to be in my past, she was my future. And just that little bit of reliable knowledge made life that little bit brighter.

* * *

**Alright, time to fess up. I caught Writers Block, and it hit hard. Saving the Joker, my other story, is still being difficult. I dont think any new chapters will come out from that story anytime soon - The Block is still strong there. I made this chapter as long as possible, so please drop a review to encourage me to keep on writing or I'll most likely slack again. Sorry guys, but its been a hard time and those times are still ahead.**

**Reviews are loved.** ** If you enjoy this story, leave a review, or it may be neglected.**


	8. Chapter 8

**APOV:**

_Where would you go__  
__Not long ago_  
_I've been thinking out loud_  
_Was it suddenly_  
_Do-do-don't you know_  
_Don't do it but you do it_  
_What you do to me_

_Forever is a long, long time_  
_When you lost your way_  
_Trying to follow your ideals (are sorry)_  
_But your so-called life_  
_It is such a waste_

_Lasso, Phoenix_

Humans feel the strangest need to bottle up their feelings. To hide them, keep them in the dark and almost never confide in another with their darkest secrets. Most humans are embarrassed of what they truly feel. From hiding the fact that the clumsy shy girl with the messy braids has fallen in love with the school captain, to the young dancer hiding the truth from her friends about what really happened in the closet with that stranger at her party.

It would be easy to just tell another human about what had happened, to share and ease their conscience and relieve the pressure of keeping a secret. But instead they lie, deny and keep the things that matter in the dark, away from judgement and acceptance which lies in the light.

Some humans are too shy to confide in another with their deepest secrets, woes and passions - so they write it all in a book. A book filled with their inner thoughts, a place to sort out their problems and to relieve the pain of carrying the burden in their minds

But once a human places their utmost secrets into a book, it becomes personal and a secret in itself. The book grows into a chamber of secrets, every single personal thought carved into paper for the world to see. No human wants another to read their book of secrets - it's a betrayal of trust, loyalty and a despicable action to perform.

This known, I was shocked to see Rima pull out her huge diary from Maria's shelving unit and settle herself next to me while she spilt her inner thoughts onto the pure white pages, the symmetrical obsidian columns across the pages being filled with dark indigo letters.

I averted my eyes, but I had to admit - I was curious. Any human would have looked at what Rima was writing from the corner of their eyes, performing a privacy violation within seconds just to sate their petty curiosity.

But I wasn't like them.

I didn't feel the need to feel superior to others. I didn't feel that I had to have a social status. I didn't want to dig up other humans secrets just to expose that I had my own little graveyard of secrets, which would stay my own. All I wanted was to survive, make music and be free, keeping away from as many emotional attachments as possible.

So I did the only appropriate thing. I slowly stood up and began to leave the room, to give Rima as much personal space as possible.

Before I left the room, I looked over my shoulder. She looked so peaceful while pouring her heart into the pages, a coy smile playing at the corner of her lips. I told myself then that I left the room because I didn't want her to spill her personal troubles onto me, turning me into a personal attachment for her.

But only later, after my whole story ended, I realized that it wasn't my fear of having Rima becoming attached to me - it was the fear that I would consider confiding what had happened to me into a human, and that just couldn't happen.

But from looking at the gargantuan size of Rima's diary, I realized that I might not be the only person in this world with secrets that could only be kept to myself.

0ooooooooooooooooooo0

I gazed into the trees, focusing on every single leaf and twig that my eyes were able to observe at once. With last night's rain still creating a foggy atmosphere, residue was delicately hanging off everything, and occasionally dropping to the forest floor with an almost silent splat. It was ironic really - to any other normal human eye, all the leaves would appear to be almost the same.

For me, this was not the case.

Every single leaf was an individual, just as much as every human is vastly different to the next. The size, colour... those were just mere basics to the green feathers that decorated every tree and surface that surrounded me. Some called them decorations, clothes for the branches - it was all ridiculous.

I almost scoffed aloud, but made sure that my facial muscles didn't register my emotions. Leaves were much more important than that. Each leaf was almost like solar panels for the tree, soaking up as much energy as possible to help the actual tree live.

Of course, when Autumn falls and the trees shed their leaves, that doesn't make them any less important. The leaves then become fertilizer for the tree, forming a blanket around the base of the trunk and creating a cover for the small earth critters to live under.

But, just thinking about that made me think about how really significant a leaf is when really it's just a bundle of energy, crafted out of atoms-

"Amu, stop." Maria sighed, rolling her eyes while putting a hand on her waist. I broke out of my uncomfortable pose, and immediately wrapped my arms around myself. I shivered in my orange corset, the dress looking like molten fire - far from the freezing weather I was feeling. The idea of actual flames licking all over my limbs was becoming more appealing every second that I was exposed to the icy weather. "For the last time, you need concentrate! You just don't look like you're thinking hard enough about nature."

Rima looked up from the gag-manga she was immersed in, assessing the situation. She then shrugged and peered back down to her manga, deciding that it would be wiser to continue ignoring everything around her instead of trying to help out.

"Just take the damn shot," Rima muttered, quickly turning a page. "She looks perfect for the scene, what's stopping you?"

Despite the situation, I was grateful for the freezing weather and snappy attitudes. For the truth, I was grateful for any weather, really. For the first time in exactly three months and twenty-seven days, I was allowed outside. The last time I had been outside was during the location shift from the basement to Maria's dormitory - even though every single second of that experience was etched into my mind, it seemed to be an eternity ago. The scarlet blood, the beautiful stranger, the comforting basement - it was all unrealistic, and I was still unsure if the whole scenario had even happened. Being released from the typical dormitory environment was like being released from jail, and everything was lush and new and enchanting. A smile almost broke across my face, tearing anguish in half to make space for the radiant dawn of happiness – it was a little bit of freedom that I had regained.

Maria's dormitory, once comfortable and cosy, had long ago looked more like a prison to my eyes. The whole dorm was just small bedroom with a walk in closet, a television room and a bathroom. The comforting peachy scent that reminded me of Maria soon transfigured itself into detergent, medical supplies and ash. Once again, it had felt like I was trapped. I had agreed that I would model some clothes for Maria a while ago, and today Maria decided to take me up on the offer.

It had been a hard period time for all of us, and the whole serious air that came hand-in-hand with taking care of me had faded to zilch. They were more interested in having me as a friend, and just looking after me that way. Now they joked around a lot more, and let loose more often. They had started to leave me without constant surveillance, and going to a few classes. It would give me some time to escape in the future, although I was hardly in the position to bolt from Seiyo quite yet.

"There's something wrong with her eyes," Maria decided, walking around me how a lioness would stalk around their prey before striking the killing blow. I stiffened, thinking that she could see my intentions through my eyes, before realising that she was judging me as a model. "and her hair is too...pink."

"Hey!" I snapped, standing up quickly in a moment of rage. I felt my stomach wound stretch a bit from the sudden movement, but it was nothing that was worth worrying about. It had received exactly three months and twenty seven days of extra healing; surely it had gained a little bit of elasticity. "It's not like I had a choice in the matter." I grumbled, inwardly seething.

"You didn't see the colour scheme on the hair dye packet? How irresponsible. Good thing it suits you though - don't permanently dye your hair when you have no idea what colour it will turn out as." Rima advised in a tone that is reserved for children and the mentally challenged, while I gritted my teeth.

"I didn't have a choice in the matter because I was born this way." I groaned, staring at their puzzled expressions. _Maybe it would have been easier to lie..._

"How does that happen?" Rima mused, pulling at a strand of hair forcefully. I glared at her and she backed off, from lack of curiosity instead of intimidation.

Maria then stepped forward towards Rima and carefully lifted one of her golden locks. Rima's hair fell behind her knees and I watched as Maria quickly stepped backwards, making the hair taut. The sun reflected off the lock, looking more like liquid gold instead of a mere bunch of human hair.

"Better question," Maria said, effectively avoiding a possible quarrel between Rima and I. "How on earth are you a blonde? Your mother has chestnut brown hair, and I'm pretty sure that your father is ginger..."

Rima's pale complexion, to my amusement, grew tomato red. "That's none of your business."

"Does that mean that you dye your hair?" Maria asked, her eyes dancing with amusement. She then turned to me, ignoring the fact that Rima was directly in front of her. "Rima Mashiro, the ice queen, the girl that is opposed to stereotyping and judging others by looks _dyes her hair_. Who would have guessed?"

"Does that mean she's hiding a thick mane of orange under a whole bunch of bleach?" I inquired, more curious than being willing to mock the girl.

I didn't want to get too friendly with them...yet there I was, playing dress-up in a radiant brazen orange dress with daisies woven through my hair, pretending to be from the Fae. One could easily mistake us as friends, but they can think what they want. My opinion is what matters in the end, and my opinion alone.

"Hm, either that or a shade of brown." Maria decided and leant over Rima's petite frame and tried to see her hair roots, in an attempt to solve the question at hand. Rima zoned in at that exact moment that Maria delved her hands into the perfect golden coils. With a sharp slap to the wrist, however, Maria withdrew her hands and scowled at the seething blonde.

"Don't touch my hair, you'll ruin it!"

"You fry your hair when you bleach it and dye it, it's already ruined. What colour are you?"

"Shut it, or I'll shut your mouth myself."

Maria grinned and poked her tongue out. "Midget, please. Your hands don't even reach up to my neck." she pointed out, before throwing her arms out, gesturing to the pure nature of the area. If it weren't for us, this area would be untouched by society - inside the dense forest, not even a cell phone signal could penetrate the woods. "Unless you can find a step ladder around here, I would like to see you try. Come at me bro." she joked, a smile spreading like butter across Maria's face.

"Bring it, dipshit." Rima challenged, a broad grin growing on her own face before Maria took off running into the forest, giggling hysterically whole Rima sprinted after her making obscene threats while cackling.

"Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me - I'm the gingerbread man!" Maria sang, her voice fading along with the snaps of twigs, the rustle and crunch of leaves and the laughter echoing around the forest.

Only then did I realize that these two were not fighting or even quarrelling at all. They were just joking around and poking fun at each other. Slowly and surely, I was becoming less of a priority to them, which was good. I would be easy to forget.

It was strange; Rima and Maria seemed to have different personalities around different people.

Around myself and Maria, Rima seemed cold and distant - almost scaring everyone away. And she looked proud of it. I could only see so much from a little slit in the blinds, but Maria verified my theory.

Maria too, had an odd personality. Away from Rima and I, instead of the plotting, fun and creative woman I had bonded on some level with, she was silent and emotionless around others. Rima said that she was the type of person that was similar to a robot in class - she did the job that needed to be done, and that was all. Talking and other useless things were not necessary, so she didn't do them. Maria tended to be quite determined in my eyes, and I wondered what kind of childhood both girls had lived through before arriving to Seiyo.

The weirdest thing was that they both knew that they were different when they were around the general public or just an unfamiliar person. And they were perfectly fine with that, perfectly fine with adapting to a different personality.

I would hate to have a different personality, let alone three or four. The mere idea of it gives me a headache - who needs four different personalities anyway? It's not like you needed a different personality to help save the world or anything, any other reason simply would not be valid. All you need is to know what you want and to remember to be honest with yourself. And now, while the wildlife sang in its own harmonious way, I realized how alone I was and that for once, I didn't know what I wanted. I didn't have a plan or even an idea as to what I wanted to do. I didn't know where I was, and if I was perfectly honest with myself, I had no idea who I was.

And I think I knew why I was feeling like that. For the first time in a fair while, I was away from Rima and Maria.

The absence of their presence irked me, which was strange. They had looked over me for months after Tsukasa dumped them with the burden of a girl with a hole through her gut. And yet they still looked after me, never complaining, just always willing to help out and have some fun to brighten the day. Tsukasa had most likely bribed them before they took on the task, but they still did it efficiently and thoroughly, never ignoring my presence for more than an hour.

Except now they were gone, and they had no way of finding me. We found the location to do the photo shoot by accident, and the area was unfamiliar to them. It was becoming quite obvious to me that they wouldn't run far away, but they might lose track of where I am.

And lose me.

That was when I realized what kind of situation I was in - waiting for my loyal acquaintances to take me back to Maria's dorm. And I was dressed like a fairy from a picture book, in a cold forest. It became obvious that I would have to find my own way out - I had the initiative, and a bit of exercise would be a good idea.

The unrealistic idea that I needed to find my own way out soon became a serious option, and from there it became the only rational choice. So I straightened my fiery dress that reminded me of flames and decided to go to my right and then straight.

By going right it would lead me right back to the dorm, and it was my hope to go straight back to the dorms, so going straight after going right made sense, right? Right.

At the time, my ill-logic made sense and I didn't question it. So I walked to the left and immersed myself into the mysteries yonder, keen to prove my independence to a nonexistent audience.

Looking back, it was the stupidest thing I have ever done.

0ooooooooooooooooooooo0

The whispering winds howled around me, its frozen claws sinking into my skin and creating small irregular bumps to appear all over my body. I crossed my arms in a futile attempt to fight off the freezing weather and began to rub my hands up and down my arms, as if the cold temperature and the small bumps were simply gray lead and my palms were an eraser.

An oak that I passed by caught my eye, its elderly trunk heavily knotted and incredibly flaky. It didn't take much imagination to envision the gnarled bark as a mocking face, embedded in the wood.

"What a pathetic pace you have," it would say, lips cracking open to reveal sharp teeth shaped chunks of bark with various insects crawling all over them in an uncoordinated mess. "My brother could have traversed further in the time you have, and he's a tree - not to mention _burnt to the ground_."

I growled and sprung forward, letting my scrunched up fist slam I to the solid surface with a satisfying crack. After lashing out at the gnarled face for a few minutes with more than just a little bit of pent up frustration, I stepped back to assess my work with a grin.

The face was now smashed and broken, chunks of bark hanging loosely off the sides and swaying in the frosty breeze.

"Watch your manners next time." I snapped before walking a few steps and realizing what had just happened.

After a few moments of reflecting on my actions, I shrugged. At least I was on the verge of insanity alone - that way I couldn't possibly hurt someone with more pent up rage.

I had an inkling that the whole reason why I was becoming gradually more violent was possessing the knowledge that I had been wandering through the forest for a very, very long time - and on top of that, I had to walk very slowly and more carefully than my usually fast pace.

Now that I was away from Rima and her medical expertise on my injury, I was more conscious about my mortality. I was no longer a marionette that was able to be mended the second I broke. This time it was real. One slip and I could tear myself open, spilling my contents onto the grassy forest floor, tainting the emerald green grass with scarlet.

I was reminded of a philosophical riddle that I had read about in the Hinamori Mansion - if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise?

Except in my case, the riddle would be adapted to: If Amu slips and breaks open her stomach in the forest and no one is there to save her, will anyone hear her scream?

My pulse nervously skittered around and raced twice as fast than it should. Such lovely thoughts. With this kind of positive thinking, nothing could _possibly_ go wrong. Except for falling over into certain death, catching malaria, tripping over a small hill and into a sharp stick, effectively impaling my body two meters into the air. Not to mention having a heart attack, cancer, Alzheimer's or catching any other contagious disease and illness known to humanity.

_Stop, you know that it doesn't work like that. Tsukasa told you otherwise. You will get to the dormitory in the end, just calm down and keep walking._

No, I couldn't wait. Not with all that horror out here to catch me. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and from the sound of my heart pounding away in my head, it was one of those times.

I quickly inhaled a large amount of air, and was about to let out a bloodcurdling screech to alert any human being of my whereabouts, before I heard something that halted the sound from passing my lips. It was a noise, the sound of despair and sorrow. It was a human wailing to the winds. _I guess someone beat me to the screaming bit._

After the long wail cut off, the silence was filled with dry sobbing and little whimpers were carried along the breeze. I walked around for a few minutes, trying to sort out which direction the sorrow was loudly broadcasting itself from, before deducting that it was coming from the left of my current position - not the right.

I walked slower than usual, trying to make my footsteps as silent as they could be on the forest floor. Leaves crunched and my feet and each twig I had the misfortune to tred upon snapped loudly, making me wince.

I approached a tree line to a small meadow where a small girl was crouched into a ball, her hands covering her face in a poor attempt to smother the sorrow she was emitting through her vocal chords. Her shoulder length brown hair was tangled in her fingers, half scrunched up through her vigorous shaking. I also noticed a pathed trail, all the way across the meadow. A path that I clearly remembered Maria lugging her tripod across.

Now what?

My knees began to ache and it caught my attention that I was exercising for the first time in about three months and twenty seven days – but way longer if you counted the ones where I was in a medically induced coma. Before Tsukasa caught up to me, I had become used to taking daily jogs and running away from my problems. Feeling the pavement fly under my feet, the thick air rushing up and down my throat, my pulse pounding through my head - it was the ultimate feeling. When you run, you release endorphins which automatically trick your brain into becoming happier, which put me on a high since running felt like pure freedom.

But since I hadn't exercised in weeks, I hardly had any of the stamina that I used to. My legs, once lean and muscular while keeping their feminine shape, were now thin, frail and knobbly. It wouldn't be hard to whip my legs back into their peak fit condition, but not when I was injured.

I was tired, and I didn't know how to approach the situation. Nothing I thought of ended in my favour. If I walked up to the girl, she would (a) talk for a bit, help me out of the forest, but then she would tell everyone about the girl she found in the forest, resulting in Tsukasa punishing Rima, Maria and I for getting found out. If she didn't do that she would (b) say nothing and run away or (c) start screaming and causing people to find us, and I wouldn't be able to run away. It was an unlikely situation that she wouldn't tell anyone – humans like to share experiences and relate to each other, as long as it wasn't a secret of their own. A secret of someone else's was a different matter entirely. If (d) I walked around the meadow and took the path I would feel bad for leaving her in the meadow, literally crying herself a river to drown in. Then I would end up telling Maria or Rima, and then we would have a heart-felt bonding moment, making us friends.

None of these were suitable options.

My knees shook and wobbled, and I decided to lean on something to take the majority my weight off my lower body for a while. If I was caught by the sobbing girl, my best chance would be to hide in a bush or something instead of running like the wind and killing myself in the process. I peered at the forest floor, to notice that it was still damp with residue – not a good idea for Maria's dress. Instead of lying on the grassy floor I chose a hanging branch to lean on instead. I peered at the leaves, double checking that it wasn't poisonous, before sighing in contentment.

I closed my eyes and leant back against the tree branch, expecting a wave of relief to fall over me so that I could relax and think things through.

But that wave never fell.

I felt air whoosh past me and my eyes snapped open just in time to see my vision tilt sideways and bend inwards. I felt pine needles and the soft floor smash into my bare back and the damp dirt sink through the front of my dress. I heard a soft rip, and I briefly apologized to Maria in my mind about her Fae-style dress. I groaned softly, and brushed the dirt off the dress with a frown, which quickly evolved into panic.

Dirt was brownish-black, an earthen colour. It was gritty and mushy, with twigs, leaves and sand sometimes strewn thorough the substantial matter.

My dirt was crimson and liquid and fluid and seeping and sticky and not dirt at all.

Distantly I heard the muffled sobs stop, then silence echoed through the meadow - surely she could hear my heartbeat, pounding so loudly. I heard a few leaved crunch and then a horrified gasp. That gasp was muffled before it transitioned to a true bloodcurdling screech, much like the one I had imagined myself letting loose not too long ago.

While I fell into the dark, I groaned once more. Not because of the pain, and not because I was actually terrified about what was going to happen to me now. But simply because nothing was ever going my way, and I was being put into so many different situations that I simply did _not _want to be in.

I could be in New York, sitting in Starbucks and sipping at a Chai Tea Latte while appreciating the warm atmosphere. I could be in Italy, walking down a cobbled street with new and foreign scents mingling with my sense of smell. I could be back in Melbourne, at my cafe, finally listening and briefly talking to the musicians that gathered there. I wanted to play music freely, without any restraints.

A long time ago, I had vowed to myself that I would only need myself to survive – I didn't need a white room, a father and best friend, or even a form of protection and guardian. No, I could take care of myself and do what I want based on my own decisions. I could achieve anything without the Government and Social Services and friends and commitments and other little useless things to hold me back.

And yet this was where I was, captured by a waking nightmare, enrolled into a school. A government-funded environment where everyone is forced to become socially aware of others and you have to change yourself to become 'accepted' by your peers, or change them so you don't have to change yourself.

Even though I had not ever experienced this myself, I knew all about it. Nothing that this hell hole could offer me would be a high enough price to pay.

All I had to do was nod and pretend to be one of them. Then I could run free, away from their ridiculous place where Tsukasa plays the role of God, away from their stupendous rules, and away from the life he was trying to make me build against my will.

Only a miracle would make me change my mind, and I knew for a fact that those do not exist.

* * *

I noticed that I have a few Lithuanian readers – I have a full Lithuanian background – so I was delighted to see that on the charts! Ačiū!

I love you all, thank you so much for staying by my side for all this time.

Next chapter: Three months and twenty seven days is a long time, and for Ikuto this is no exception. With family ties unwillingly unravelling and change becoming more imminent, happiness has become a distant memory. As he begins to shatter, Nagihiko and Kukai try to pick up the shards of their broken friend, but with Tsukasa nominating them for ulterior duties and exams coming up they simply cannot do a proper job with so many other priorities – not to mention attempting to hunt down Maria and Rima. Cue Kairi, the class president for Euphoria – as a budding psychologist and general scientist, he attempts to help his fellow classmate out, while trying to comfort a fellow peer from heartbreak...but where did she go?

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